


Midnight City

by Ryley



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2020-09-02 01:04:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20267500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryley/pseuds/Ryley
Summary: Ruby works in a bar as a bartender. Weiss works as a judge in a court. What are the chances of love at first sight and how will it fare for these two? Universe slightly tweaked and is based on an alternate version of 'Manhattan'. Year 2069. Story of Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee falling for one another.





	1. Ruby Rose

“Aviation.”

“Ahh, thanks.”

The man pinched the stem of his wine glass and begin swirling it before sipping it slowly. Ruby was just beginning to prepare another customer’s order—

“Hey lady, you look kinda hot.”

The man behind her said in a tone that Ruby was accustomed to hearing every single day of her life. The stranger wore a long-sleeved dress shirt along with a black pants and a slim necktie that hung loose around his unbuttoned collar. At the same time, he was also giving Ruby one of those looks that shouts _“Wanna bang?”_

“Excuse me?” Ruby replied, knowing full-well that the man was heavily intoxicated. The stranger looked at her with a hint of disgust, clearly irritated from the fact that Ruby was making him repeat himself.

“I said you look kinda hot, do you really have to make me repeat myself?!” He spat aggressively. 

The customers sitting beside overheard their conversation and decided to share glances, awaiting Ruby’s response. The short-haired woman paid no attention to them, and carried on her ‘conversation’ with the stranger.

“Are you trying to harass me?”

From the look of his face, even a child could tell that he was drunk; face all red, slightly bloodshot eyes and a…. weird tone infused into his voice.

“Oh_nonono_, I was just giving some compliments. What? You have a problem with it?”

This was starting to get annoying for Ruby.

“Yeah, right. I think it’s better for you to stop since I’ve heard the same line for like the umpteenth time today and I’ve grown tired of it.”

Fortunately, this particular individual isn’t as persistent compared to the previous ones. He turned his back, leaving the tips on the bar as he leaves. When he turned around, Ruby could’ve sworn she heard a mumble from him that she couldn’t quite make out, but it sounded like _“-ing bitch”_.

* * *

Ruby’s shift ends at two-thirty late in the night. The extra thirty minutes are intended for cleaning purposes so that the next person in charge can get to work immediately without having to worry about wasting precious time cleaning. She entered her PIN on her locker to retrieve her possessions, and then leave for home. The manager and the others waved as she passes through the lounge. Waving goodbyes aside, she barely talked to her co-workers or anyone else there besides interacting with customers…. just to take their orders.

There isn’t much people that she could trust despite her bubbly nature. However, there’s a small portion of people which she does put her trust on. One of them being her sister, Yang. Except they don’t live under the same roof. Ever since Yang and Blake married, they decided to move out to another apartment that they found a while ago. They urged Ruby to come stay with them, but she gave them the pass. Ruby currently lives alone in her own apartment in Washington Heights, a one-way trip from home to work takes about 15 minutes by subway during rush hours.

She shoved off those thoughts and clicked the button that’d summon the elevator. While waiting, Ruby pulled out her scroll to check her notifications. Aside from all the emails with an intent to remind her of assignments, there was also a message from her sister. Inside attached a photo of a water-gun on the side with Blake’s back to the camera and a caption underneath that read _“She’s done for”_. Apparently both of them had some days off and decided that they’d spend it to relax. Ruby smiled and replied back with a ‘status report’

The elevator arrived with a _bleep_, Ruby walked in and looked out through the glass walls as she was slowly descending to the ground. The rooftop bar she works in was 54 stories high, but for whatever odd reason, it still gained it’s name _“Bar 45”_. Ruby had pondered over this for a long time but eventually shrugged it off since it didn’t really matter to her, she wasn’t the one in charge of naming and stuffs. She’s merely a bartender who works there.

The Rockefeller subway station was _right _next to where she worked, all she had to do was walk half a block and make a left. At this hour, the A-line subways comes through the station every 20 minutes, which means the next car will arrive in approximately four minutes. The station is almost dead silent if it weren’t for the cars from above and the roaring ventilations. She had to go through this process couple days a week most of the time for a return trip home, leaving the other days for herself to do whatever she sees fit.

Being alone in the station had left her with insecurities. The haunting thoughts of somebody suddenly running up to her from behind and shoving her into the tracks has coursed through the back of her head numerous times even until now. Not only is her sister not there to protect her at the moment, she doesn’t have a pepper spray nor a safety _taser_ which left her completely open and vulnerable. If worse comes to worst, she’ll have to outrun the robbers by sprinting, which is something that she excels in.

A breeze came out of the subway tunnel which was a sign that the subway is approaching. Ruby boards an empty as usual car and sat down on a seat facing the route map. Another man followed her into the car from behind and settled down on one of the seats in the corner.

The announcement voice along with a dual tone chime from the speakers came on as the doors were being shut. The subway levitated and picked up speed instantly, one of Ruby’s favorite when riding them. Although the levitation mechanics have been around for decades, it never fails to amaze her in terms of how everything worked.

There was no one else in the car except for her and the man in the corner seat. Riding in a car with someone she didn’t know _alone_ was a bad idea, so she decided to walk to the next empty car. Ruby sat in that one spot for as long as the ride took.

* * *

She arrived at the front door of her apartment after twenty minutes, flashing her scroll mid-air on her door entry and pushing it open, she finds—

_No one._

“I’m home….” Ruby sighed. She went ahead to remove her sneakers and walked into her bedroom.

“Gosh I’m worn, and there’s still work tomorrow”, Ruby said to no one. She whined at the thought of working tomorrow, hoping that break would come sooner so that she could do anything that she desires. But at least tomorrow’s the last day of work for the week since it’s Saturday, _then _there’ll be some spare time for herself.

Ruby didn’t even bother taking a bath considering she is already half-dead like a zombie by the time she got home. She stood in front of her bed and plopped into it face down, then turned around to look up at the ceiling.

This feeling…. Ruby’s used to living alone all by herself. She’s okay with no one to go back home to, or at least that’s what she _thinks_. But it didn’t feel right, like something was missing, and she couldn’t put her finger on _what_ precisely. Perhaps her sister’s presence? No, that’s not it.

A tiny drop of tear trickled down her face without her noticing. Maybe she is indeed lonely after all— no one to talk to, barely hanging out with her study group, and living alone at such a young age with absolutely zero roommates.

But before she could expand her brainstorm, melatonin eventually took her down to rest for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reader who has never published anything suddenly did, spooky indeed. Here lies the story that spells the beginning of Ruby and Weiss’ relationship (Don’t worry she’ll show her face soon). I’m planning to go for a length around 150k since that’s pretty much the sweet spot for most WR stories, but I’ll decide whatever I see fit in the future. This story will be based in a ‘future Manhattan’ AU with a couple of…. modifications. I guess this is where I’ll be ending the notes, if you have any questions feel free to hit me up or leave a comment about what you think about the start of this story.


	2. Weiss Schnee

“Your behavior was comparable to that of a savage beast. Being manipulative, deceitful, underhandedly and all, I’m sure I don’t have to add any more words to further explain your actions,” the white-haired woman said.

“You can’t bring back a family after blowing them up, nor could you bring back someone whose head that had just been shot by a beam weapon,” she continued.

Not a word had left the accused mouth even after everything she said, which gave her the signal to keep pressing.

“Not only that, but you also played on everyone’s vulnerability…. Unfortunately for you, you’re not playing with mine, nor anyone else's. Not today, not anymore.”

“….and I think I know just what to do.” The accused still kept a stern face after hearing those words, lips static with eyes filled with somewhat passive but negative energy.

Weiss leaned forward and said, “Now, I also want you to know; I’m not good at math.”

That was clearly a lie, and she said it while putting everybody’s grade in shame from dominating everyone in her school back in the days.

She continued, “I know you have some pretty good math skills, and I have a…. I guess you could call it a _cheatsheet_.”

Weiss was slightly baffled as she counted the list of actions taken, she continued scrolling down on an upsized scroll with her left hand and her right elbow against the surface of the table to her chin with her thumb and index fingers in a V-shape.

“50 first-degree murders….”

This is probably the biggest case she had ever been in, if not the biggest.

“I’d have to sentence you to 25 years…. each. Now if you take that number and multiply it by 50. That’s over a thousand years!”

Defendants, attorneys, witnesses all shared a glance at each other as a response to what they’ve just heard, as if it was the biggest cases they’ve ever been in. Weiss on the other hand, liked where this was going, but also tired of it at the same time.

Weiss said while imitating a confused tone, “Your numbers are going off the charts here, Mr. Murphy.”

Nobody said a word yet. Seeing that as a green light, she continued, “Congratulations, you’ve got 50 life sentences without parole coming your way.”

Camera shutters started going off rapidly from left and right.

“I need everyone to be quiet, I’ve told you that I’m not nice.”

The crowd muted themselves in an instant.

“I am a judge who believes in rehabilitation. But I don’t find that possible with you. You are the danger itself, everywhere you walk— disaster occurs.”

It was tiring.

Weiss had been through this for the umpteenth time in her life— After clearing and sorting out everything for what seemed like an eternity, she stood up, thanked everyone and ended the session.

Weiss took her leave and left the courtroom. She couldn’t believe she was summoned to this…. not foolish actually— mind-blowing trial. Out of all the days in the week, they chose Saturday. It wasn’t surprising since it's a part of her job after all.

It was stressful.

After she completed her work in her office— which she took a subway ride to reach after the hearing, that was situated in…. 45th Street.

“What a place to get stuck in….” Weiss growled.

She grabbed her scroll from across her desk, and the time shows 11:49 P.M.

“A Saturday, poof!” Weiss said as she did hand gestures, “Gone just like that.” She said depressingly.

It was depressing, being an overachiever in her school and originating from a filthy rich family. As good as it sounds to everyone, it definitely was a different story for Weiss. These were the details and stories she wanted to keep a secret from everyone else for years. To this day it still disturbs her a great deal whenever someone brings it up.

She had dreamed of watching the world burn down to the ground into ashes before, partly since nothing good ever came out of it. Of course, things changed overtime. With the unparalleled intellect that Weiss possesses, she rapidly became successful in her studies and was able to pursue whatever dreams that came up in her mind. Anything.

However, like always, life doesn’t always take you to where you want to be, and money could only take her as far as buying temporary happiness.

The idea of being a judge has never crossed her mind, and here she is. That’s how crazy life can be, taking you to places you never knew you’d end up in.

It surprised everyone too, how did this young woman (little girl) suddenly make such a huge leap in her life? Did she really think she could take on what life would throw at her? Several seniors were enraged and infuriated at her short-term accomplishment, while others admired her to some extent.

Weiss didn’t really care, there’s absolutely no reason to. It’s not like she would be getting any prizes or awards for giving a damn to what others think. Her mind was clouded and she wanted to get rid of the fog, which leaves….

“Look up nearby bars.” Weiss spoke into her scroll. She desperately needed a drink that would clear— make herself forget about everything temporarily. One of Weiss’s habits was, when she looked up something on the map, she’d always set the price range selection to a quad dollar symbol hoping she’d end up in a somewhere nice instead of wasting her time bumping into unpleasant places filled with indecent people. The city is _enormous_, much more bigger than when she was still merely a toddler. Weiss watched as the city grew before her eyes, both in width and height.

Some Japanese bars showed up, but she got sick of them just recently. The sake that was supposed to taste sweet and dry in her mouth soon tasted like tap water with cardboard.

Then, another result showed up.

“Bar 45.”

The rooftop views intrigued Weiss, and since it was a quad like she selected, she figured it might be a good idea to give it a try. She clicked the button that’d summon the elevator while telling her scroll to show her the walking directions, and it pulled up the map as soon as she was done talking into it. The elevator arrived in seconds, and she hopped into it. Immediately, on instinct, Weiss looked out the glass wall, relishing the view of the city.

Even though Weiss lived in a penthouse that was a few blocks away sharing the same view, she never got tired of it. Weiss always felt that somebody else, at this very moment, is watching the same starry night sky filled with stars, a full moon and the light pollution from the city. At least, like everyday…. that was the front glass, when she looked to her left and right, there was nothing. Just walls looking like they were levitating at high speed with a couple of light strips through the glass.

The elevator opened its doors when it reached the ground floor with a dual tone chime. Weiss stepped out of it and examined her surroundings. As usual, the front security whose eyes were glued to the surveillance monitors, and…. no one else. At this hour, Weiss is usually the only one with some of the few who stays in the building this late in the evening since everyone returned home early to their family or loved ones. Weiss gets to stay this late in the evening, partly because she didn’t really have anyone to go back home to. What she did like however, was working overtime. Albeit it could be lonely at times.

Not that she actually liked working, it’s just that without anyone around the noise level drops significantly to the one that she prefers.

* * *

The walk didn’t take too much time, to her surprise the tower was just right next to hers. She stepped out of the elevator when it climbed to the 54th floor, and was immediately greeted by one of the staff. Weiss looked around examining the place, from what she is seeing, the place looked decent. There was a relaxing vibe in the atmosphere with people chatting while taking slow sips of their somewhat colorful alcoholic beverages, others were laughing their heads off to some jokes someone else had made. On the other side there was also music playing with people dancing on the eye-catching dance floor. The white-haired woman went into the quieter zone and eventually settled down on the bar seat.

The short-haired girl’s back was facing Weiss, but she called out her orders regardless.

“Sapphire Martini, up.”

Ruby turns her head one hundred eighty degrees and met Weiss.

“Coming right up.” Ruby replied.

While she’s working on the cocktails, Weiss observed keenly on how the short-haired girl mixed the ingredients. For Weiss, it was always satisfying to watch other people do their thing. This doesn’t mean she liked watching everyone, but.... this girl, she looked like she knew what she was doing. Watching her just felt like a live action stress reliever from having to watch what all the airheads do in court.

Previously, when she turned around to face Weiss, she felt some kind of energy radiating from her. Weiss had tried hard to describe it in context, but all she had was…. positive energy?

She shook her head to get rid of the bubble thoughts. Who was she kidding? She can’t be caught gazing other woman in public intensively without a reason like that!

And thus she steered her vision away from Ruby.

* * *

After a considerable amount of time had passed, Ruby finally completed making Weiss’s drink, popping in the last toppings on where they were supposed to be. Satisfied with the result, Ruby picked up the glass and placed it on a tray to be delivered to Weiss.

“Here’s your— ah!” Ruby tripped.

Both women’s eyes widened.

As the glass fell to the ground, the sound of glass shattering caught everybody's attention. However, it wasn’t the glass that caused such a reaction from both women.

It was the liquid in the air, seconds away from landing onto something.

_Splash!_

Weiss had her eyes squeezed shut, then proceeded to open her left eye slowly.

Cold, light bluish liquid were dripping down her silvery locks onto her coat and her skirt.

“You dolt!” Weiss stood up and hissed furiously at the bartender.

“I’m so sorry! Here, let me help you!” Ruby went around the bar to quickly pass Weiss some napkins.

“I swear, what were you thinking?!” Weiss chided.

“I tripped on myself….” Ruby replied defeatedly.

As Ruby assisted Weiss to help clean the mess she made, the manager came out of the kitchen to find out what was going on.

“What happened here?” The manager demanded answers.

Ruby rubbed her arms up and down slowly while looking slightly to the right, “I accidentally spilled drinks on the customer….”

The manager facepalmed, then wrenched his jaws between his fingers, “Miss Rose, you’ve broken three plates ever since last month and now you’re spilling drinks on customers?”

“I’m sorry….” Was all Ruby could get out.

“Young woman, if all you know is breaking and screwing stuff up, not even a million apologies can save you!” The manager spat out.

“But the plates were scalding hot! I didn’t—”

“Alright, enough is enough! Go—”

“You can stop already, she said it was an accident. Damage has already been done, yelling at the person who caused this will not solve any problems but elevate it further instead.” Weiss interjected before the manager could finish his sentence.

Judging from the situation, Weiss could tell this is one of the moments where employees would get fired next. It was ironic, going from hissing at the worker to defending them the next second. Whatever bad mood she’s in currently, she could still tell Ruby didn’t mean it and it was just an accident.

Recognizing who he was talking to, he realized it to be futile if he even tried to start an argument with Weiss. The manager was gone after whispering to one of the waiters, who then starts to clean up the mess.

“Hey um, h-here you go....”

Weiss snapped her eyes to Ruby’s, then to the napkins on her hands.

“I can take care of myself in the restroom.” Weiss denied and turned her back to head to the restroom.

* * *

Crystal clear water ran down from the tap, napkins snapping at the flow instantaneously to get just the right amount of water to moisten up. Weiss dabbed the napkins on her coat gently, disposing the napkin and repeating the process.

“Great, now I have myself a light blue stained coat....” Weiss sighed.

Her sleeves and collar were stained with almost unnoticeable light blue from the drink that was supposedly hers. Next she cleaned her hands, which are also covered with the beverage.

Turning the tap off and drying her hands after everything’s cleaned, Weiss exited the restroom back to her seat.

She’s not leaving without a drink tonight.... and perhaps a little chat would be delightful.

* * *

The crystal glass glistened the more Ruby rubbed it with a white cloth. Satisfied with the result, Ruby placed the glass back under the bar. Taking another glass— dragging it instead of picking it up— she repeated the same process over again ever since the white-haired woman went off on her way into the restroom.

She probably already left the premises....

The sound of stool dragging against the floor brought her back into reality.

Ruby looked up, surprised with what she was seeing. Not surprised to the point she’d scream, it's just that Ruby was someone who’s easy to surprise compared to an average person.

“Mind making me another one?” Weiss sighed. She placed her hands together on the bar while looking at Ruby with a passive facial expression.

Ruby did not expect Weiss to come back and even ask for another order, nor did she even expect Weiss to treat her politely unlike most every other customers even after causing so much trouble for her.

“S-sure….” Ruby immediately went to work on the request.

Weiss watched her from behind again, paying attention to each and every movement of Ruby’s. Everyone else would’ve had their eyes glued to their scrolls or any kind of electronics during these period— except for Weiss. Actions like such are considered creepy to everybody, but Weiss liked to observe others doing things.

Not all though, only professionals.

“Here you go,” said Ruby, placing down the alcoholic beverage in front of the white-haired woman.

Weiss accepted the beverage and began to slowly examine it while swirling the glass round and round in a languid manner. As she took a sip from it, savoring the taste and twitching from the sudden slight burn, Ruby went on to clean more glass as there weren’t any particular orders on demand.

Weiss’s eyes snapped back up to Ruby again after her second sip.

“You.” Weiss said to no one in particular.

Ruby responded with a glance, confused whether if the white-haired woman was calling out for her or someone else. Turning back and seeing no one behind her, she pointed at her own chest while looking at Weiss.

“Yes _you_, who else would I be talking to? The air?”

Ruby set the glass that she was cleaning and the cloth down, “Oh! Sorry, I thought you were talking to someone else behind me. How may I help you?”

Seeing as every and all employee in the building has their name-tag except for Ruby, it made Weiss question her. “What’s your name?” Said Weiss while she gestured to her own chest with her index finger twirling around it.

“Ruby, Ruby Rose!”

“I’m Weiss. Weiss Schnee. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Weiss as she shook hand with the bartender.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too! Heheh,” Ruby thought her name sounded familiar. “What an unusual way to make friends huh?”

Weiss had seen Ruby on her job for a bit now, and she looked like she knew what she was doing— even looking like a professional at it too. However, her mistakes that her manager pointed out previously does not match with what she sees, and she felt obligated to ask— a pretty stupid question.

“Friends....”

There was a pause.

“Are you new?”

Ruby thought for a second before answering, “Around three months, I’d say…. Yes? I mean this is my first job after all so I didn’t really expect myself to be doing well on it. I honestly think I’d have been fired by now but I’m surviving longer than I expected and—”

“Woah, calm down. I can’t understand you if you start speaking in a jumbled mess,” Weiss furrowed her eyebrows.

“Right, sorry. But I’d say yes, I’m new. Why the question?” Ruby cocked her head.

“What your manager said previously, is it true?”

“Yes….” Ruby looked dejected and downhearted, her mistakes she had made previously and in the past had put her to shame. But hey, Ruby’s a human, and humans make mistakes, right? “I mean, I feel like I’m still doing better every day though, like I’m slowly improving. But I guess it still isn't fast enough to meet the expectations.”

“If you say so. What I’m trying to say is— the way you do things here looked like you’ve had some experience. That’s for the reason to my question, it didn’t feel right to see you make that rookie mistake.”

Ruby came to realization at Weiss’s compliment, “Oh! Uh…. Thank you!”

“That was not a compliment.”

Shots fired.

“I was just joking.” Weiss chuckled.

“Hey! That wasn’t very nice of you….” Ruby pouted.

“I know....” Weiss chuckled again after finishing her glass. “Can you do that again?”

“Do what again?”

“Pout.”

Ruby pouted at the annoyance of Weiss for asking her to pout.

Weiss laughed.

All things considered, this was the first time Ruby had ever seen this woman express such delight ever since she spilled drinks on her. She probably would’ve seen this side of her sooner if she hadn’t spilled that drink. The white-haired woman’s laugh sounded like music to Ruby’s ears.

Weiss handed Ruby the empty glass after she is done examining it with no apparent reasons.

“Time for you to go back to work and make another for me.”

* * *

Hours and hours have passed.

The lightnings were somewhat warm and cozy at the bar, or it may be a side-effect from the alcohol clouding Weiss’s mind. The ambient noise were calm and undisturbing, almost like white-noise to Weiss. She was glad from the fact that she came to the quieter zone of the bar instead of the rowdier ones which is on the other side of the room.

“And that was pretty much how my day went, then I came here only to have you bump into something and spill all the drinks on me….”

“Wow, you had it rough huh….” Ruby said as she contemplated her current situation. “That made me feel tenfold better when I compare what you have to go through daily with myself.”

“You bet….” Weiss said slowly. “But hey, at least I got to get outside and do actual things instead of getting stuck here like you, right?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. If making fun of me makes you happy, more power to you,” Ruby rolled her eyes playfully.

Weiss set down her glass on the bar and examined it half-heartedly, “I guess I’m that kind of person after all…. You’re not half-bad too, already out in society at such a young age….”

“Wow hey, are you okay?” Seeing Weiss behaving wobbly, Ruby questioned with worry.

Weiss laid her head down in her arms on the bar, only to pop back up momentarily.

“Hmm, about that scene you caused, you’re not gonna get fired for it are you?” She said drunkenly.

“What? No, I don’t think so. The manager’s probably used to it. I know he may seem grumpy and ill-tempered and all, but he’s a pretty nice guy sometimes too, ya know? I’m sure there’s mistakes even worse that I’ve made th—”

The pause caught Weiss’s attention.

“Like what?”

Despite being stupefied and heavily intoxicated, it didn’t stop Weiss from the interest of getting to know more about Ruby and neither did her facial expression change. With stress acting as her driving force to drink even more, she was unable to stop herself from requesting Ruby for more and more.

Ruby’s eyes widened, she looked at Weiss’s glass, then back to the bottle of gin. Back and forth, back and forth.

“Shit.”

Ruby over-served her.

Now that Weiss is extremely intoxicated, she laid her head back into her arms on the bar. She wasn’t violently spitting out profanes or vulgar slang like most others usually do when they’re drunk and heavily intoxicated. Weiss is just, dead…. Or knocked-out.

“Weiss?” Ruby said while shaking Weiss’s shoulder progressively harder. “Weiss!”

“Will you.... stop?”

Seeing as her actions were futile, Ruby scrambled her mind to figure out what to do next.

This was no laughing matter. She’ll get in major, major trouble if anyone were to find out.

* * *

Closing time approaching sooner than a blink of an eye. The white-haired woman’s half-lifeless body still hanging on the bar. Now was the time that all customers should be taking their leave. Ruby’s colleagues also left early, leaving only herself alone with some customers who are just starting to leave and some other unfamiliar colleagues on the other side of the zone.

“Hey Ruby! Why is there still a customer there? It’s closing time y’know?” The manager spoke from across the zone.

Ruby jolted and focused on her manager, “U-uh, right. I’ll get her to leave now.” Ruby said as she pretends to wake Weiss up.

“You’re such a handful.” Said the manager as he sighed, then he began walking towards them.

_Not good!_

“Hey miss, it’s closing time now. We kindly ask that you—”

“W-wait!” Ruby stammered.

“What is it?” The manager said with his arms swinging open.

“Well, uh, she’s actually my friend, and I invited her tonight. Apparently she’s super tired and told me to wake her up in a while, and…. I forgot.”

“That’s exactly what I meant when I said you’re a handful!” The manager facepalmed. “Well at least you’ve brought referrals.” He wheezed.

“Haha, yeah,” Ruby uttered while still trying her best to wake Weiss up.

“So I can trust you with her right? You’re not gonna screw over again?”

Ruby held her breath praying that her manager wouldn't take another step closer. Weiss’s light blue scarf did an excellent job concealing the side of her face, which is good.

“Oh, absolutely! You can count on me!” Ruby faked a grin.

Her ‘phony’ grin looked too real to be fake.

“Hmm, I wish. Alright, remember to clean your station up, I’ll catch you later you glowing floating ball of positivity.” The manager waved at her as he turned back and glued his eyes to his scroll.

With her manager gone, now comes the biggest challenge. What is she going to do with a knocked-out Weiss? Ruby was gifted with an excellent improvising ability, and now’s the perfect time to put it to good use. She _could_ carry her and leave her in one of those street benches.....Yeah, that’s a pretty good idea!

Plus one for Ruby Rose!

* * *

There was a mild downburst as Ruby walked on the streets. Fortunately, the buildings around her distributed the wind evenly to every direction instead of the same direction, albeit that still didn’t help that she had a knocked-out Weiss on her back. The light-blue scarf around her neck was fluttering wildly in the wind, Ruby looped it around Weiss’s neck once more just to make sure she doesn’t catch a cold. But judging from her long heavy white coat that she was donning, she wouldn’t. Winds continued to threaten them (well, Ruby) with pulsed bursts and gusts.

Ruby had made up her mind.

She is going take Weiss back to her apartment.

It truly was a hard decision to make, since taking a stranger home— conscious or unconscious — without their consent _can_ be considered kidnapping. But kidnapping or not, it is still tenfold better than leaving Weiss in the streets. Thoughts of Weiss being kidnapped or something really, _really _bad happening to her in the streets made Ruby’s stomach churn. At least she knew she wasn't going to do these kinds of horrible things to her.

Calling the police wasn’t an option for her either— not after what had happened.

As she walked down the streets, she passed through a couple of street punks that shot her glances, four of them had a glass bottle in their hand. She wanted nothing to do with them, as they could be a handful to deal with should they be disturbed. Ruby kept her eyes away from them as they passed.

She could’ve sworn she heard one of them muttered “—ing gay”, but all’s well as long as there wasn’t any physical contacts involved.

* * *

The subway cooperated by arriving on time today. Ruby set the white-haired woman down on the seat next to her. Then, she took her scroll out to tell Yang about what happened. Not a long time has passed before an incoming video call came.

“So how did you screw up again this time?” A familiar voice came through Ruby’s scroll.

“I over-served someone.”

There was an awkward silence in the transmission for a moment.

“Oh wow, I did not expect that….”

“So what do I do? I mean, I didn’t mean it! We were having a chat and, and I don’t want to leave her in the streets—”

“Sis, I’ve been with you ever since you were a budding rose. You really expect me to think the most innocent girl I know would do such a thing?”

That calmed Ruby down significantly, “Thanks, Yang.”

“Do you know her name?” Yang asked after a pause.

“Weiss Schnee.”

Yang blanked out for a few seconds upon hearing that name. She racked her brain for something that she was certain she had never heard before, but it’s worth a try. “Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah, why,” Ruby asked in a confused tone. “Do you know her?”

“N-no, it’s just that I know someone who goes by the exact same family name. Oh well,” she shrugged even though Ruby couldn’t see it. “Might just be spelled differently but rhymed similarly. You’re planning to take her to your apartment right?”

Ruby gave a hum of agreement.

“To be honest, it would’ve been better if you came to our apartment….”

Another awkward silence.

“I think you can handle this alone just fine, I trust you. Just do as I say.”

“I think I’m going to get in major trouble when she wakes up,” Ruby interjected.

“No, not really. You’re a woman, so that’s a plus because she’s a woman too.”

“What difference would that make?”

Yang sighed.

“How would you react…. If you wake up to find yourself in a guy’s home?”

“Ohh….”

Yang exhaled, “Do this; go home, drop her on the bed, and sleep somewhere away from her. Like a safe distance, and wake up before she does next morning, Blake and I will be there to do the explaining— wait, we’ll come over right now—”

“It’s okay, I can do the explaining myself.”

“Huh? But… are you sure?”

Ruby looked up to the elongated panel showing the train map indicating that they’re currently approaching her stop.

“Positive, thanks for the advice sis. I have to get off the train now. Love you!” Ruby stood up with her scroll clamped between her left ear and her shoulder to get Weiss ready.

“Love you too, Rubes. Better not screw this up.” Yang said before the transmission ended.

Ruby tried waking Weiss up at the last minute to try her luck to no avail. She then carried her on her back and exited the subway.

As Ruby walked over to the stairs leading to the exit, a police officer spotted her. He looked as if he was concerned more about the woman on Ruby’s back, but when Ruby flashed him a smile, he adjusted his hat and smiled back, going on his way.

“Good grief….” Ruby exhaled.

* * *

It didn’t take long before Ruby arrived in front of her apartment building. The walk wasn’t as tiring as she’d expect because thankfully Weiss was extremely light.

Like feather light.

Ruby could probably carry Weiss with one hand. But she refrained herself from trying it because God forbid if she drops her things wouldn’t end well.

Going through some trouble getting her scroll out from her pocket to scan it in order to enter the building, it took her a little more time than usual since she doesn’t have a free hand to spare at the moment, nor did she want to put Weiss down on the ground.

When she finally got into the building, she has yet another challenge to face.

Going up the stairs.

Her room is about five flights up. Usually, Ruby had no problem sprinting up the stairs effortlessly.

Not today though.

Ruby walked up the stairs sluggishly from the fatigue of working late at night. Carrying an extra weight and walking for a distance took a toll from her too.

Ruby unlocked her front door, noticing something different. Every single day, whether she came back or was leaving for work, she always did so alone. And this may be the first time someone else other than Yang and Blake had ever stepped into her apartment.

Well, _carried_ in.

Ruby pondered for a second, and realized it was already 4:09 A.M. She needed sleep just as much as Weiss needed time for recovery. So she went to her bed, plopped Weiss down on it and tucked her in under her blanket. At this point, Ruby could hear Weiss’s inaudible snoring, an indicator of one in a state of deep sleep.

Without changing into her pajamas, Ruby slept— collapsed on the ground on the side of her bed. She was too tired to even brush her teeth, let alone check her scroll.

Ruby joined Weiss in her deep slumber soon after closing her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: Sunday, January 19th, 2020, 3:21


	3. Compensation

_Zzzt zzzt zzzt zzzt._

Weiss shuffled.

_Zzzt zzzt zzzt zzzt._

Something is vibrating in her pocket.

_Zzzt zzz—_

Her frail hands shuffled around the bedsheet, looking for her scroll blindly. It took Weiss awhile to realize that the vibrations were coming from her pocket. She reached in and pulled out her scroll to stop the alarm.

Stretching her right arm while her left covered her mouth as she gave out a long yawn, Weiss noticed that her mouth tasted bittersweet, and the taste subconsciously led to thoughts about consumption of alcohol.

“Hangover’s getting on my head I guess….” Weiss muttered to herself.

She felt off when she tried to get off of her bed, only to find that the bed she was laying on…. wasn’t hers….

Weiss got off of it and tried to stand up, only to yet again discover something strange— the ground did not feel like ground at all.

“OWW!!”

Weiss shrieked when she heard Ruby’s cry, she leapt off of the ground like a cat who had just seen a cucumber.

“R-Ruby? What?! How are you even in my— wait, where am I?” Weiss said as memories began flooding back into her mind. She cupped her left eye as she felt the back of her brain ache.

“W-Weiss! I can explain!” Ruby got up from the ground and attempted to reassure Weiss.

“Eep!” Weiss flinched and tugged on the bedsheets when Ruby came too close to her with her hands waving in the air desperately.

The white-haired woman had her scroll in her hands, calling the authorities were fingertips away. She was scared, afraid of what Ruby might do to her. But Ruby looked like she couldn't even hurt a fly or let alone her, so she decided to hear her out. Weiss grabbed the hem of the blanket for more purchase on the sheets.

Looks can be deceiving after all.

“Okay, please explain.” Weiss exhaled.

“Umm, so it went something like this. You came to the bar, and we chatted, then I over-served you, and you got completely knocked out after asking me about my worst mistakes I’ve ever made, and then—”

“Wait, you over-served me? What are you, brain-dead? Argh, I was a fool myself for not realizing!” Weiss slapped her cheeks lightly with both hands. “Have you tried waking me up?”

“I did, but you told me to stop….”

Weiss closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She took a little time to process everything, understood why and figured the most rational reason as to why Ruby would go so far to help her.

“Thank you….” Weiss said just loud enough, barely audible to Ruby.

“Huh?”

“You were so close to leaving me on one of those street benches, weren't you?” Weiss glanced at Ruby.

“I-I…”

“I’ll have you know that I’d prefer this over you leaving me on the benches.” Weiss looked away from Ruby. “But how did you manage?”

“I basically carried you all the way here since there weren't any taxis available around the area at that time.”

“You must be pretty strong then, walking all the way with me on your back.”

“You’re light enough for me to carry with one hand….”

“Of course.” Weiss huffed. “I’m assuming that you’ve also paid for my check? Let me reimburse.”

“Oh, right….” Ruby took out her scroll.

Weiss opened the banking application on her scroll and readied an outgoing payment. The proximity sensor soon picked up Ruby’s scroll, and Weiss transferred the payment.

“Wait, that’s— you.... transferred more than what I paid for….” Ruby furrowed her brow.

“That’s your tips, you dolt. I don’t even know how to thank you, that’s the least I could do.” Weiss dropped her scroll on Ruby’s bed.

“Oh....”

Ruby placed her scroll beside Weiss’s. “I wanted to thank you as well….for understanding….”

“Pardon?” Weiss glanced at Ruby.

“I mean like, seriously. Had it not be you I would’ve lost my job….”

Ruby’s words reflected on Weiss’s mind heavily. It reminded her of her own past for some reason. Whenever she did something wrong or make a mistake, she’d be yelled at or reprimanded harshly. Ever since then Weiss had been striving to become a person who does everything perfectly and flawlessly.

Weiss sought for perfection.

But no matter how hard she tries, there will always be mistakes and flaws. Weiss is a human being after all, and humans make mistakes.

“How did you even get hired in the first place, honestly.” Weiss face-palmed.

Ruby did not respond.

“May I have a glass of water? My throat’s a little dry,” Weiss requested.

“Absolutely! I’ll be right back,” Ruby bolted into the kitchen when she finished her sentence.

The white-haired woman looked around the apartment as she waited patiently for Ruby to return with her drink.

“Where are we anyway?” Weiss mumbled before checking her current location.

Then something in the corner of the room caught her attention when her eyes flicked up. It looked like a little space for a pet dog. She looked around the room gingerly in hopes of finding anything, but there were no creatures to be found. She went back and sat on Ruby’s bed, saddened.

“Here’s your drink,” Ruby came back with a glass filled with clear liquid in her hands.

_This better not be spiked._

“Thank you,” the white-haired woman said when she accepted the drink, taking an inaudible sip shortly after.

_Doesn’t taste like tap water, thank goodness._

Weiss wanted to ask if Ruby had a pet around somewhere, but before anything even came out of her mouth, she heard an audible growl from the short-haired woman’s stomach.

“Oh?”

Ruby’s face reddened.

“Looks like someone’s hungry, huh?” Weiss mocked with a smirk.

“We did kind of overslept though, it’s already past breakfast time….”

“What?” Weiss swiftly grabbed her— Ruby’s scroll to look at the time.

‘1:21 P.M.’

“Oh wow, half a day’s already gone. I guess it’s lunch time then, any suggestions?”

Ruby replied without delay, “I know a burger place in the city— just few blocks away from the bar, sound good?”

The white-haired woman’s eyes widened when she heard those words; burger and city. One, Weiss takes extreme precautions of her calorie intake and the type of food she eats to maintain the condition of her body as best as she can. Second, today was her day off. And she— nobody would go near the city if it isn’t for work during their day off. Just by being around the area reminds everyone of work, which would lead to the inability to relax or enjoy their day off, and its purpose would be defeated.

But it’s not like she can turn down Ruby’s suggestion now, can she?

“Let’s just pray that there isn't much passengers riding the public transports today.” Weiss said as she readied up to leave.

Ruby chuckled, “There’s always tons of people riding them, Princess.”

“Where did that pet-name suddenly come from?” Weiss crossed her arms and glared at Ruby.

“I mean, if you think about it, it kinda fits perfectly for you. The way you talk and the way you sit, and the fact that you like to have the public transports all to ourselves. It's pretty princess-y don’t you think?” Ruby explained.

Her reasons were valid though. Everything Ruby said described the white-haired woman perfectly, that was exactly how Weiss behaved.

“I-I….” A heavy sigh followed afterwards. “At least the story behind that pet-name of yours make some sense.”

“It does, perfect sense even!” Ruby bumped her elbow against Weiss. “C’mon, let’s go before it gets any later, else the transportation would get even crowded.”

“Ja….”

Ruby turned around to lock eyes with Weiss when she heard her, “Wait, you speak German?”

The white-haired woman opened the door and exited the apartment, before the door shuts completely she popped her head back in with a finger to her lips, “Shhhh.”

The door shuts.

Ruby stood there for about a couple of seconds before coming back to reality.

“Hey, wait up!” She said as she exited the apartment to chase after Weiss.

* * *

Temperature begins to drop as the end of the year approaches, and the sunshine soon provided only little warmth than usual through the thick clouds. Sound of dried leaves fallen from the tree dragging against the ground when the wind blows added up to the mood.

“It’s late again huh….” Weiss facepalmed.

“Looks like some sort of power outage on the magnetic rails, happens every so often during the weekends. But it's okay! The trains are only being delayed for like two minutes.” Ruby said while looking at the maintenance tab on the interactive holographic screen.

“Why didn’t you check the status before we leave?” Weiss said harshly.

“Our conversations were way too interesting to disrupt over checking the status of the subways.” Ruby said as she walked towards a bench and sat on it.

“Oh? Or is it?” Weiss’s face changed into a smug expression.

“Well, yeah. The stuff you told me last night were super, _super_ interesting! I really wanted to know more but…. Well, you know what happened.”

“Hmm, first time hearing somebody who's interested about my life.” Weiss said as she sat down on the bench.

“What? You sound like you have an interesting life! How would anyone not be interested?!”

_Probably because I’ve never told anyone anything about my life, Ruby._

“I guess it sounded boring to most of them and they all lost interest.” Weiss sighed.

“Oh….but I’d love to know more! They sound super interesting!” Ruby said enthusiastically.

“Sounds like somebody’s _extremely_ inter—”

“YES!!” Ruby shouted, interrupting Weiss before she could even finish her sentences. Both her hands closed tight and on the bench. Several passengers who were also waiting for the subway glanced at both women, but their interest were lost as soon as it sparked.

“Shhshhshhshhh! Quiet, you dolt!” Weiss whispered harshly while cupping Ruby’s mouth shut with her hands.

After Weiss made sure all eyes were off of them, she took her hands away from Ruby’s mouth. “I swear, you’re such a handful....”

“Heheh.... Sorry, I guess I got a little too excited....” Ruby scratched her temple lightly with her fingers.

“Okay, where were we? Ah yes, the story.....” Weiss looked at the tracks and spaced out for a few seconds. “I think I’ve got a good one.”

Weiss has the short-haired woman’s full attention currently. Humming in satisfaction as there is still time before the train arrives, Weiss begin to tell Ruby a story about a moment during her time in university.

“So there was this girl who was one of my classmates, we never really talked much nor did I wish to know anything about her. She was someone…. I guess you’d call a ‘gang leader’? But she wasn’t all that tough anymore when graduation year came, she had it bad. Anyway, one day when I was sitting in the cafeteria with my cup of coffee while doing some paperwork, I saw her coming in.”

The white-haired woman tried to mimic a scene where she pushes the doors open with her hands and using her index and middle fingers for the walking movements. Ruby could tell either something stupid or funny were about to happen as she listened to Weiss’s story.

“And she had an aluminum container in her hands, like a takeaway box. She walked towards the microwave, put her stuff down, and reheated her food.”

Ruby hasn’t caught on to the asinine mistake the girl in Weiss’s story had made.

“I sat there and watched. By that time I’ve already gotten all my stuff packed, ready to leave. And guess what happened after forty-five seconds?”

“She burnt her food?” Ruby cocked her head.

“No, the whole microwave sparked and caught on fire.” Weiss said with her eyes closed.

Ruby’s eyes widened in both excitement and concern, “Whaaat?”

“Not long after, the whole thing was engulfed in flames. The girl was probably texting or checking her social media on her scroll before running and shrieking from the sudden change of events. Poor girl….”

“Wow….so did the whole cafeteria like, burn down?” Ruby queried.

“Of course not, the fire suppression systems kicked in as soon as it happened. But even so, the campus closed down for a day or two since the fire department had to come do their thing and make sure everything’s in order before students could come back.” Weiss explained as she stood up to board the finally approaching train.

“Wait a minute, closed down for a day or two and the fire department came? That sounds awfully familiar…. which university do you go to?” Ruby asked as she boarded the train along with Weiss.

“Rosarium University.”

“Are you serious?! That’s my university!” Ruby bounced once in her seat as she uttered.

“Huh? Is that true? What a coincidence.” Weiss smiled.

“Yeah! I’m already a senior this year. Basically my last year!”

“Oh, so you’re twenty-two?”

“Yup, and I’m guessing you’re a year older than me?” Ruby asked innocently without trying to sound rude.

“Three, actually.” Weiss muttered.

“Wow. I mean, you look so young though! I honestly can’t even tell if you’re even over 21 if you asked.”

“Thank you, but you don’t need to mention that out loud.” Weiss smirked.

“Yeah, I probably shouldn't have….”

Weiss laughed at Ruby’s response, then she felt a vibration coming from her pocket. She took her scroll out only to find a caller from work was ringing her. Unhesitatingly, she tapped the reject button and dropped her scroll back into her pocket.

“We should probably get ready to get off now, our stop’s approaching.” Weiss stood up to walk towards the doors.

“Oh, you’re right. Perfect ti— woooah!”

The subway braked hard, possibly from the unexpected incoming traffic. Ruby lurched towards Weiss when she lost control of her body from the momentum. Several other passengers who weren’t holding onto something fell on the ground.

Weiss looked back the moment the brakes hit, and saw Ruby flying towards her. The force of Ruby’s body crashing into Weiss caused the back of the older woman’s head to knock against the glass, “Ah!”

She rubbed the back of her head for a split second before looking at Ruby, “Wha— you dunce, be careful!”

“S-sorry! Are you okay?”

Ruby didn’t suffer much from any damage since Weiss acted as her cushion. Except for Weiss, who may potentially have a bump in the back of her head right about now. The doors opened when the train arrived at the station, Ruby assisted Weiss to walk out and sit on a bench.

Weiss tried to gently pull her hands away, but Ruby’s grip was strong. As much as she hates being touched, she didn’t want to yank her hands away from Ruby’s grasp. “You can let go now, you know?”

“R-right.”

“Ow….” Weiss cried, feeling the back of her head.

Ruby sat down next to her, making sure she was okay…. well, to make her feel slightly more comfortable.

“Why didn’t you hold onto something?! You could’ve gotten hurt!” Weiss snapped.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect the train to stop unexpectedly….” Said Ruby defeatedly.

Weiss exhaled heavily, “As long as you’re fine…. Now lead the way, you’re probably already starving, yes?”

“Oh, right! We just have to walk for a couple of minutes from the exit and we’ll be there.” Ruby offered a hand to get Weiss up from the bench.

“Ugh, I just hope the streets aren’t as crowded like it is in the weekdays.” Weiss stood up by herself and began to walk towards the exit.

* * *

“….”

“So what do you think? Done choosing?” Ruby queried.

The white-haired woman looked at the restaurant’s menu with an incredulous look on her face. There was nothing on it that she could eat, let alone not looking like it’ll end her if she swallowed. She knew that this will be inevitable, and she’ll undoubtedly have to bid farewell to her perfect calorie intake.

“Ruby….” Weiss said pathetically, “I can’t eat these….”

“What do you mean? They’re all edible!” Ruby was perplexed.

“I mean, yes, they’re edible. But they’re all oily and unhealthy fried foods….”

“Oh…. Are you allergic to anything, then? Like peanut oil or something?”

“No.”

“Then it’s fine! Trust me, the foods will be great and you’ll like them!”

Before Weiss could even put up a fight and protest that this wasn’t a good idea, Ruby dragged her into the entrance by her left hand. She didn’t resist or try to fight back though.

They were immediately greeted by the host upon their entrance, “Good afternoon, is it just the two of you?”

“Yup!” Said Ruby.

The host tapped on the panel behind the desk several times, then grabbed two menus, “Alrighty, you can come with me.”

Ruby and Weiss followed behind the host, who brought them to a relatively tiny two-seats table. “Here’s your seat, would you like to order some drinks now? Or do you need a little bit more time?” The waiter noticed them spending a considerable amount of time looking at the menu outside of the restaurant a minute ago.

“We’ll take our orders now. You can order first, Weiss,” Ruby glanced at her.

Weiss wanted to opt for salad so badly, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn down Ruby’s suggestion.

“….House’s Special, please,” said Weiss lifelessly.

“Okay, and what’d you like?” The host— who became the waiter, said to Ruby.

“Same as her but make it a deluxe.”

“And what would you like for drinks?” The waiter asked.

“Strawberry smoothie.”

“Plain water.”

“Got it, House’s Special and a deluxe, plain water with ice and a strawberry smoothie. Your orders will come shortly,” the waiter left with a nod for another table.

Weiss looked around and analyzed her surroundings. There were burgers, pizzas, fries— anyoily food one could think of— were present on each and every table. Weiss watched as the grease dripped out from the back of someone else's burger as they took several more bites, and most wiped it off with the back of their hands. Candidly speaking, they were _disgusting_.

“….I’m not going to die from this, right?” Weiss asked Ruby in a barely audible speaking tone.

“Holy cow, Weiss! No, you’re not! It's not like you’re going to die after taking a bite or something!” Ruby reassured.

“Sorry…. It’s just that every time after I’m done eating foods similar to these, I wouldn’t be feeling all that well,” Weiss explained.

“No no! It’s my fault, I should’ve asked first, do you want to cancel our orders and go to another restaurant of your choice?” Ruby said, concerned.

“It’s okay, I think I’ll be able to handle it just fine,” Weiss waved her hands to reassure Ruby that she didn’t want to leave. However, it wasn’t working on Ruby. The younger woman could tell something bad would surely happen should the older woman consumed any fast foods, but she chose to trust Weiss that she could handle it.

“This happens every time when you eat fast foods?” Ruby asked.

“If it’s fried and oily enough, yes.”

Weiss didn’t bother explaining precisely why she hate or avoid eating ‘unhealthy food’. As long as Ruby doesn’t try to pry deeper, Weiss would hold her tongue. Or at least, she doesn’t know if she should tell anyone so much about herself yet, especially someone she only knew for a day.

The atmosphere was slightly different from usual, at least for Ruby. With enough time, both women noticed that people from left, right, front and back were shooting them looks and glances. Every fifteen seconds that passes will result in another stare or glance from one of the tables. They were looked at as if they came from another planet, or so. “Uh Weiss, I feel like we’re being watched,” the younger woman whispered.

“Don’t worry about it.” Weiss sighed.

A considerable amount of half-baked conversations went on before the waiter showed up with their foods and drinks, “Here’s your meals, ladies!”

The waiter placed Ruby’s meal down on the table first, then Weiss’s along with their drinks.

“Enjoy!” Said the waiter before he left.

Presented in front of Ruby was a giant burger. Sandwiched between the buns were some pickles, lettuce, tomato, applewood bacon, and a thick beef patty along with some special sauce. There were also some golden yellow fries fried to near perfection on the sides. Ruby’s portion looked slightly bigger, and Weiss’s looked like it was shot by a shrink-ray.

“Look at this, Weiss! How can you say no to this?!” Ruby presented her burger in front of Weiss’s face.

“Oh wow, your burger’s gigantic,” said Weiss, unimpressed.

While Ruby begins to devour her giant monster of a sandwich, Weiss took a sip from her drink.

_This is tap water._

The older girl placed her glass down and observed Ruby as she ate. Then she picked her sandwich up, “Here I go, I guess.” She took a bite and chewed gently, as if she was trying to detect any poison that was present in her meal.

“How is it?”

“It’s….decent,” Weiss replied after swallowing her food.

“See, told ya it wasn’t that bad,” Ruby laughed.

Weiss took a second bite on her sandwich, and to her dismay, everything sandwiched in it begins to slide out slowly from the underside. The older woman tried applying a slight amount of force to prevent everything from sliding out any further, but her nails dug into the bun and the special sauce beginning to drip out profusely.

She put her sandwich down onto the plate and cleaned her hands with some napkins. Then, she took a knife and a fork to cut everything into smaller pieces. What looked like a burger couple minutes ago now looked like a dropped leftover in a box.”

“Hehe, Princess.” Ruby once again called Weiss by the pet-name she came up with.

“What? Everything just fell apart and it’s not like I’m going to eat them with my bare hands!” The older woman hissed.

“Yes yes, I understand.”

At this point, Ruby was already done dealing with her sandwich and is now slowly eating the side of French fries as she watched Weiss eat— not in a creepy way.

Weiss was chewing her food before she looked up to find silver orbs staring into her own baby blues, “….is there something on my face?”

“Nope, just watching you eat. You look really cute when you’re doing so.”

“Now you’re just being creepy,” Weiss said before taking a sip from her glass of tap water.

“Aww c’mon…. It’s not like I always get to see someone eating their burgers with a fork and knife y’know? You’re special,” Ruby closed her eyes and smiled.

“I guess you could say it’s part of table manners,” Said Weiss after finishing her last bite.

“Pfft, Weiss you’re being too classy!” Ruby laughed.

Weiss dabbed her lips with the napkins, then she slid her chair out and stood up, pushing it back after. She did everything with her elbow as her hands were covered in sauce and grease, “I’m going to the restroom to wash my hands, I’ll be right back.”

“But they have moist towelettes!” Ruby grabbed one from the table and waving it at the older girl.

“I prefer washing them with soap and water,” Weiss said as her voice faded into the background.

Ruby is all alone by herself now, she took her smoothie and sipped it slowly. She looked around the always crowded as usual restaurant, a man came into view looking as if he was about to leave the restaurant. He had his hands in his pocket as he walked, clad in what one would wear in an office. Ruby made eye-contact with him, he rolled his eyes and left the premises.

Weiss frowned when she saw what happened from afar, she slowly walked back to Ruby from behind and patted her shoulder. “Someone you know?” Weiss chuckled dryly.

Ruby jolted up as a response to Weiss’s contact, almost spilling her smoothie. “Oh you’re back. No, he was just a stranger.”

The older woman went back to her seat, “It’s rude to stare in the public, you know.”

“I know, but who else other than the strangers would I be looking at while you were gone?” Ruby mumbled.

“I….I suppose. Anyway, how’s your smoothie?” The white-haired woman didn’t want to admit defeat, so instead she tried dodging her question.

The younger girl stopped drinking her smoothie and handed it to Weiss, “It’s fantastic! Wanna try?”

The tip of the straw looked like it was lightly chewed on.

_Really, Miss Rose? An indirect kiss?_

Weiss rejected her offer by pushing away the glass, “Thank you, but…. That looks a little too sweet for me.”

“Oh yeah, you hate these kind of stuff….” Ruby said while she looked at her glass of powder pink-colored smoothie.

“Not hate, just not the ones that are too sweet,” Weiss chuckled.

Another moment of silence.

I’m running out of topics.

“Say Ruby, how do you stay healthy? Like after eating an incredulous amount of junk food. It makes me feel a little concerned about your health….”

She was certain that the majority of the population does the same thing, but Weiss wanted to know how Ruby did it, keeping herself healthy. It certainly did not look like she suffered from any health issues. No signs of asthma, nor any physical incapabilities. Her body looked fit from what she saw. However, she has yet to know what’s hiding under that hoodie of hers.

“I run a lot. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory for my high metabolism,” Ruby said as she clutched her hoodie.

Weiss hummed in satisfaction for the answer.

“What about you?” Ruby was curious to know if Weiss did something similar.

“I don’t really do anything besides staying in the office from dawn till dusk,— I go home around midnight,” said Weiss.

“So you don’t even see the light of day or the sunshine? That’s not good for you you know,” Ruby said with concern.

“Yeah, I usually have the electro-chromic windows at full blast. The sunlight usually distracts me from my work, and it's also my holo-screen’s worst enemy, they don’t tend to work well with sunshine,” Weiss explained.

“Oh…. Well, it doesn’t hurt to go for a walk in the park from time to time,” Ruby suggested.

“I don’t have time for that,” Weiss replied with a heavy sigh. “The workload now is just absolutely horrifying, I can’t afford to take any breaks.”

Ruby could tell that the older girl was distressed, and on top of that she didn’t know the degrees of her stress, so she decided to stop urging the older woman to not make herself sound annoying. The younger woman has a job too, and she understood how it felt at times when she had conflicts or overwhelmed by work.

The conversation died soon again.

_Not again!_

The white-haired woman put both of her hands down on the table, still thinking about what she could say. Anything, just anything would work right about now just as long as she doesn’t kill their conversation.

The younger girl looked down at Weiss’s hands. She had manicured nails and her hands were smooth and uncalloused, which is a definite sign that the older woman hadn’t done much labor during the time of her life.

“Can I?” Ruby held out her hand beside Weiss’s.

“Huh?” Confused and perplexed, the white-haired woman cocked her head.

Ruby knew this was nothing short of an awkward move, but when she wants something, she will not hesitate to ask or request for it.

“Your hands,” said Ruby.

“S-sure?” Weiss held out her hands gingerly for Ruby to hold.

The younger woman examined her hands meticulously, and it may as well if not be the palest and softest hands Ruby had ever seen and felt in her entire life. Ruby’s hands went to her fingers for examination, then to her palm. Weiss’s face was slowly starting to turn pink. Never had she ever allowed anyone to touch her without appropriate reasons in her life.

“Wow Weiss, your hands— I mean your skin’s complexion is like, pale white! It’s almost as if you’re a ghost or something!” Ruby held Weiss’s hand up above eye-level.

“That’s correct, Ruby. I am a vengeful spirit who have come to take my revenge on you,” Weiss tried to sound scary, grabbing Ruby’s own hands with hers, chuckling afterwards.

Ruby role-played as no one in particular. She put her right hand onto her forehead and pretended as if she was powerless to stop Weiss, “Oh no! I’m helpless and I can’t escape this fate! Oh, take me and have your ways on me, Princess”

Weiss slowly unhand Ruby and put her hands back to where it was before and chuckled some more, “You dolt.”

Ruby laughed before returning to her concerned tone, “But seriously though, for some reason I really don’t want to see you fall sick.”

“Woah, we barely know each other and you’re already worrying about my health,” Weiss smirked.

“Uhh…I-I mean, you did it too at first!” The younger woman stammered.

Pausing on realization, Weiss had to admit that she did get all concerned and worried about the younger woman’s health first in the beginning. “Ugh, I suppose you’re right. Let’s get out of here,” Weiss got up from her seat as soon as she finished her last line.

The younger woman stood up and walked along with Weiss to the front desk. Ruby was content with her stomach full, and Weiss is just happy to be here being able to see Ruby. Something about her charmed Weiss to an extent, like Ruby was her personal sunshine.

Ruby took her scroll out to pay for their check as they approached, but Weiss interjected. “What do you think you’re doing, Miss Rose?”

Ruby turned backwards, only to find a slightly disturbed looking Weiss shooting daggers at her with a hand-to-hip pose, “Umm Weiss, is there something wrong?”

“I’m supposed to be paying, you dunce,” the older girl answered as she took her scroll out from her pocket. “You’ve done enough, now let me return the favor.”

After the payments were transferred, Weiss walked towards the exit with Ruby tailing along, or so she thought. The older woman looked back to catch Ruby taking her time to cherry-pick her favorite candies from the basket on the front-desk while the cashier laughed dryly at Weiss’s reaction.

“Ruby!” Weiss went back to grab the short-haired woman’s hands, dragging her out of the restaurant before she takes the whole basket away with her.

* * *

The wind was as strong as ever before, both women walked on the streets past people struggling to open heavy glass doors from the resistance of the wind. The white-haired woman walked on the drier part of the concrete, while Ruby tiptoed over tiny piddles, still occasionally splashing water onto Weiss’s high-heels, and she held back a grunt behind her throat.

The wind grew stronger and stronger as they got closer and closer to the Hudson River. Weiss’s machine pressed ice-cream looking pony-tail would stay aloft for a period of time, the wind blowing against her coat, framing out the shape of her slim body. “Shouldn't we turn back? It’s awfully windy out here.”

Ruby held the wooden handrails of the glass barrier and leaned out to look at the other side of the river, “Why? The view’s nice here, come look!”

Although Weiss has been living in the city for a while now— these views were nothing short of a ‘glance’ type of view from her penthouse, but she figured maybe Ruby didn’t really get much of a chance to enjoy the scenery because of…. well, work and school.

The white-haired woman clutched the collar of her coat tighter, her hands on her forehead right below her bangs. She walked towards Ruby against the resistance of the wind, “You know, the view would be a lot better than this if you come during the evening.”

“Yeah, that’s easier said than done. I barely have any time to spend during the evening,” Ruby huffed in exhaustion on the thought of work and school.

Figures.

“I know. With those in your way it can be extremely difficult to free up some time for other things. Tell me, what do you do after your classes?”

“I’d usually go home when I’m done with classes, or go to work if I need to. To be honest— the issue isn’t about time, it’s just…. the things I’m trying to learn are extremely tough, you know? I mean like, I can sometimes grasp onto something immediately or really quickly, but on some other things, my mind just goes blank.”

Weiss had lost count of how many times she had heard people repeating the same thing Ruby said over and over during her time. If it isn’t about time constraints, then it’s about how difficult the works are. If it isn’t that neither, then it’ll most likely be how tired they were.

Ruby’s scroll buzzed in her pocket, when she glanced at it her facial expression dropped. “I forgot my shift is starting in ten minutes, I have to go now.” Ruby said in a hurry.

“Oh….”

Ruby ran the opposite direction away from Weiss, then came to a hard stop and turned back. “Hey um, thanks for today’s lunch. Are we still going to meet sometimes?”

“A-absolutely! When will you be free?”

Ruby’s eyes rolled up towards the skies and mumbled in her own thoughts, “Hmm, let me see. Tonight will be a little too late, tomorrow might work but I think I have some plans too so—“

“Hey,” Ruby didn’t realize the other woman’s approach as she was drowning in her own thoughts previously. “You have me in your contacts, just let me know whenever you’re free. If I were you I’d get going now, nobody likes missing a train.”

Weiss smiled and took a step back.

“I guess you’re right, I’ll see you then.” Ruby waved as she sprinted towards the subway station, slowly blending in and disappearing with the pedestrians.

Now that Ruby is gone, Weiss is left all alone by herself on the riverside platform. There isn’t much daylight time left as the nightfall is approaching, she could see the sun slowly descending if she stood there and watched long enough.

Weiss ordered a ride on her scroll to get home since it doesn’t look like there is much she could do. She purposely avoided the public transportation to lower the odds of bumping into the short-haired woman again. But even if it wasn’t for Ruby, she wouldn’t have taken the public transportations either since they were all pretty nasty by her standards.

The ride didn’t take long before it pulled over to the side of the road to pick Weiss up. She opened the door, surprised to see someone in it. She could’ve sworn she tapped on the driverless ride.

“Good evenin’, Miss Schnee.” The driver greeted her warmly.

Weiss gave the driver a nod as a response. She lacked the energy to speak or let alone chat with someone else, the nod she gave the driver was simply done in the name of etiquette. Although she wanted some quiet time for herself, she knew some of the drivers have the tendency to start a conversation with their passengers. It is only normal to do so to gain high ratings.

The driver looked like he was around his mid 50s with a fairly deep but gentle voice. His personality was the calmer type and his face also has a mellow complexion. From all the information Weiss had gathered, she had a feeling that this man held an abundance of life experiences in his head.

“Is something making you feel uncomfortable, young lady?”

Weiss snapped back into reality. With autopilot mode turned on, the driver could shoot glances at Weiss every now and then from the rear-view mirror.

“No, I was just thinking about something.”

“Some heavy load’s going on in your head, I see.”

Weiss was silent for a moment, not because she was indecisive, rather she was still drowning in her thoughts.

“Actually, yes— My insides are feeling a little weird, and a little….awkward?”

She couldn’t describe her feelings with words, almost as if they were ineffable.

The man hummed in his thoughts, “Can you be a little more specific?”

Weiss scrambled her mind in search for words. More importantly, when it happened.

“It started when I met this particular woman.”

“Aha! Now that’s specific. That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

“So you know the cause of it?”

“Depends, who is she? How long have you met her? And what is she to you?”

The white-haired woman did not feel comfortable talking about her feelings she may potentially have for Ruby, so she kept it short. “I don’t know, I’ve only met her since yesterday.”

“Oh, then it’s normal. Happens to everyone,” the man shrugged.

“Too you too?” Weiss locked eyes with him on the reflection of the rear-view mirror.

“Heck yeah, happened to me during high school. Ah, my old brain’s going out. I can hardly remember my senior year, but I’ll never forget the prom night. It was the best day of my whole entire life.”

Weiss looked down, her face a mixture of sadness and a hint of happiness. She was happy to hear that the man had had a good time when they were young. She felt ashamed when she realized she has yet to acknowledge his name even though it was clearly listed on her scroll, she paid zero attention to it. Parker.

“That feeling of yours, it's probably a sign that you are developing feelings for that someone you’ve just met last night.”

Weiss looked at his reflections, perplexed.

“You’re still young, take every opportunity and shots you can. There may not always be a second chance available ever again. That’s what I can tell you,” the driver said as he pulled into the drop-off area.

Weiss did not respond, she felt depressed for some reason. Although she looks down, the driver’s advices did spark some feeling of hope in her, and she was grateful for it.

“However, beware of feigned relationships.”

“Oh.”

“We’re here,” Parker said as he dismisses Weiss’s completed trip and switched his status to offline.

“It was nice talking with you,” Weiss said while holding the door open. “Thanks for the ride and the advices. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. Parker”

Parker waved before Weiss closed the door shut. She made sure to tip him a good amount before entering the lobby .

Love, huh.

Weiss was greeted by the staffs in the lobby as she walked passed them, to which she simply nodded. An elevator car arrived with about seven people in it, Weiss stood there and waited patiently for the people onboard to make their way out before stepping in.

A soft beep from the elevator notified Weiss that her residence informations from her scroll has been received and access is granted.

The elevator started climbing rapidly. It didn’t take long before Weiss arrived on her floor, she stepped out of the elevator onto carpeted floor towards her door. Since this was a penthouse level, there weren't as much doors unlike the bottom levels.

She flashed her scroll mid-air against the door entry, pulled the handle down and pushed gently.

Click.

Inside, she finds— no one.

“I’m…. home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Came back to further improve every uploaded chapters. Expect chapter 4 soon!
> 
> Updated: Sunday, January 19th, 2020, 3:27


	4. Acquaintances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the hiatus returns, so do I.
> 
> It’s been a while ever since the last chapter update. I hope everyone and their families are doing well especially with the current events concerning the novel COVID-19 and the outbreaks. Lot of things have happened last year and in the last few months— which I've got to admit the problems did a remarkable job hindering my productions. But worry not, I’ve got things under control and everything should be going as intended as of now. 
> 
> I’ll step aside for now to not waste more of anybody's precious time, more notes will be down in the end notes.
> 
> I hope you’ll all enjoy reading this long lost chapter as a treat for all the waiting.

The security system emitted a brief chime, signaling the main door of the penthouse was being opened. The lights increased their brightness gradually and automatically, illuminating the living room in front of her and the open kitchen to the right with a quartz island. A sight that Weiss is accustomed to seeing, coming back home from a rough day and having the quiet empty space all to herself.

The living room was bedecked to perfection when seen by the eyes of a minimalist— it lacked any decorations that stood out but despite so the remaining ones were still aesthetically pleasing. The walls were painted either white or a light shade of baby blue depending on the location and every furniture’s color were picked specifically to her likings. There were two bookshelves on one side of the wall filled with both paperback and hardcover books and a white-leather couch with a glass coffee table right in front of it. A glass pane mounted to the wall with a slight tilt facing the couch was a ‘television’ that is currently displaying the time, date, outside temperature and a little icon resembling the current weather.

Weiss walked into her bedroom, the lights came on in a similar fashion to the living room’s. The current time is 19:04 and every single cells in Weiss’s body were screaming for a bath, considering it is ultimately the only thing she wanted to do right at the moment.

To be honest, a bath sounded very much like the best thing in the world for Weiss now. 

She started preparing her bath on her scroll with just a tap on one of the many presets. While the water is filling up, she took off her jacket and hung it in her closet leaving only her white long-sleeved blouse with black cuffs and her white skirt on. She then took out a fresh set of change; a light blue sweater and a gray lounge pants, all enveloped in a faint vanilla scent.

Holding the fresh set of change, Weiss slid open the translucent glass door that led into the bathroom. The size of the room looked a lot bigger compared to an average bathroom. There’s a sink, a shower area separated by a glass pane, a large tub at the corner, and an enormous upper body height mirror on the wall with a full body version on the other side. Weiss hung her fresh cloths on the hangers and began stripping from top to bottom. She walked towards the shower in small steps with her blouse in her hand.

Dropping her shirt, the white-haired woman went into the showers. The panel in front of her came to life as she approached to tap on the presets, and hot water rained down on her naked body from the nearly indiscernible shower head on the ceiling. Weiss let the hot water ease the tension in her muscles before lathering some shampoo on her snow-white hair. It was a tedious process, considering the length of her hair was incredibly long. She also made sure to keep it as clean as possible, free from any possible stains tainting pure white or the tiniest debris that could’ve accumulated during the day. Next, she lathered her body with body wash that filled the entire room with the scent of vanilla. Weiss used her hands instead of a brush or a loofah— they were excellent breeding grounds for bacteria, the mere thoughts of scrubbing her body with those products were enough to make her feel queasy.

Weiss stood still for the water to wash away any remaining shampoo or body wash, then looked up with her eyes closed to let the water fall on her face.

“_Why?”_

She recalled snapping at the younger woman, and despite that she still brought her to safety and treated her so well. Was she doing it just so she doesn’t get fired? Was that it? That’s probably it. The being kind to her part made sense now, but the latter part made her think twice.

“Why. _Why. Why?”_

She rubbed away the excess liquid on her face and hung her head with both arms to the wall to support her tilted stance.

“_Just…. why?”_

The fact that a particular person was able to raise million of questions in _Weiss’s _(the one who couldn’t care less about almost anybody else) head single-handedly was an incredible feat, and the thoughts are still constantly working up to her mind threatening to overwhelm her.

_Ruby Rose. _The name that appeared in her mind for the umpteenth time today is beginning to take over her mind like no others. Her occupation, her responsibilities, her stress— they were nothing compared to what _Ruby_ was able to make her feel. The younger woman was able to make Weiss feel as if a sledgehammer had hit her _hard_ in her chest, or worst— she could make her feel as if she was hit by a truck that weighed a thousand tons. _Or even worst; _she could make her feel as if she was crushed by the world. All but in a good way.

She shook the thoughts out of her head after spacing out for a moment. _Just for a moment, _Weiss still wanted to dig deeper into this when she goes into the bathtub in a moment. She shut off the shower’s valve and stood there for a brief second before walking out of the shower area.

Weiss stepped into the tub with her left leg to test the water, then with her right before submerging her body into the hot water. The liquid covered majority of her body, having only her knees and her upper body exposed leaving the others submerged. She let out a satisfied sigh as the hot scented bubbly bath melted her stress and anxiety away. It wasn’t everyday that she got the opportunity to treat herself nice like this, instead ending the day with a quick shower. But today was special and she decided to spare herself some slack and relax for a bit.

Beside her was a gigantic glass window that overlooked the city. Weiss leaned on the side to get a good view, she had to admit that the skyscrapers and other buildings that lid up during the night was beautiful. Red and whites were all over the streets and avenues, and the pedestrians looked like ants from her view. There were also airships flying away from the city in the distance where some could be seen creating a sonic boom.

The glass pane that separated her between the outside world was made from a special type of electrochromic glass that could be tinted to a certain degree to make it virtually impossible to see through from the outside. Weiss had set hers to a slightly darker setting, allowing her to enjoy the view while at the same time blocking the ability to see through from the outside.

Weiss daydreamed while several non-essential things ran through her mind, causing her to shake her head to get rid of those thoughts. She held her hands up on eye-level and stared blankly into it with water rolling down to her shoulders and waist. There was a tingling sensation that lingered on her hands when her mind replayed a scene from the past.

_“S-sorry! Are you okay?”_

Ruby’s words and memories with her existence in it replayed in her mind over and over like a collection of clips on auto-play, she covered her face as she blushed redder than she could ever recall doing so. The white-haired woman struggled to keep her composure from this incredibly unfamiliar sensation. Sure, some boys had tried to hit her up in the past, but _none_ of them even came close to triggering the kind of feeling she is currently experiencing. Weiss clenched her fist and muttered in frustration, “You stupid…. dolt….”

Until she couldn’t stand those thoughts anymore, she stood up and got off from the tub after rinsing before grabbing herself a towel to dry herself off. Weiss dressed up into her fresh change and did everything to prepare for bed next.

She picked up her scroll to check for any further notifications. Mails. Mails. Missed calls and a text— from Ruby. Without a second thought she opened the message with her heart suddenly pounding audibly in her chest.

_“Are you free tomorrow after work? I was wondering if we could hang out and have dinner at the bar together since my shift ends earlier than usual”_

Weiss smiled, she knew that Ruby really meant ‘supper’ as in dinner since it’ll be late by the time Weiss is done with her work. Almost missing it; she glanced at the bottom of her scroll to find another message. _“My sister and her friend will be joining us”_

With that, her shoulders drooped when she realized it wasn’t going to be their alone time. Nonetheless, meeting Ruby and her sister with her friend was better than _not _meeting Ruby at all. Besides, it’s also going to be an opportunity for Weiss to get to know more of Ruby with her sister around, and she's going to take full advantage of it. _“Of course, I’ll be free after twelve, will that be okay?” _Weiss replied and getting a reply back almost instantly,_ “Yeah! See you tomorrow Weiss!”_

Her plans for tomorrow is now set; meet Ruby at the bar after work tomorrow. Looking at her scroll, she figured that the mails are probably reminders or requests for reviews that she could take care of during tomorrow’s commute, so she ignored them and turned off the lights before tucking herself in.

* * *

_“Yawn.”_

Ruby thrusted her left arm aloft while covering her mouth with her right hand to muffle her high-pitched yawn. The skies were dark and cloudy, making it impossible to tell the time of day without the sun being visible. There’ll be ample time to get ready, be it taking a bath, making a meal, heck maybe even an episode of _Criminal Minds_ would be nice!

“Wait….”

Ruby took her scroll to get a closer look of the current time.

“Holy cow, I’m gonna be late!”

The trains were running locals at this time, there wasn’t any rush hour routes leaving poor Ruby on a disadvantage. Sure, it’s possible for her to arrive on time even with the locals, but the amount of time it takes for Ruby to get out and run to the station after making breakfast, brushing her teeth, changing and so on would very well take off a good chunk of time from her intended schedule (as if she even had one). As she was rushing to the bathroom to brush her teeth, she cursed herself under her breath for being _too fast_ and accidentally stubbing her toe on one of the legs of her bed.

Next destination was her closet. Ruby-Rocket-Rose blasted towards it like her temporary middle name, stopping right before she crashes into it and started flinging clothes around with the others flying everywhere creating a mess. The employees had to wear uniforms, but Ruby could opt for her casual outfits for now since she kept hers in the locker at her workplace. Additionally, she stuffed a spare into her small backpack so that she could swap it out with the ones she wore at the end of the day for cleaning (and for the sake of not running around the streets in her uniform).

Ruby was the type of person that only brings her scroll and nothing else with her when going outdoors since handbags and the other stuffs were deemed unnecessary or too bulky to carry with her, albeit the small backpack’s just fine. To hell with feminism! _Sprinters ain’t got the luxury to carry deadweights._

In the city, scrolls are virtually a person’s everything. It stores massive amount of informations of its owner such as; identity, credit and debit cards, passes, and just about everything you’d need for everyday life. Sure, people could opt for their wallets or handbags if they wished to, but unless they’re bringing more than just payments and identities, scrolls will get the jobs done just fine.

Upon grabbing her trusty and versatile little fella, she also went ahead to get herself a strawberry flavored roll from the countertop on her way out. Once Ruby was out in the streets, she sprinted all the way towards the station like Barry Allen. She could’ve sprinted and go plaidas she approached the inside of the station instead of slowing down to the speed where regular runners usually hover around, but safety first! It’d certainly be an unpleasant experience if she were to crash into someone else, and she made sure to be _extra_ careful this time especially after what had happened to her with a particular someone.

The subway arrived just as soon as Ruby stepped on the platform, she was now panting from the aerobic activities. The sprinter sat down on a seat she’d found effortlessly, hopeful that the ride will calm her down a little after all the running. She pulled out her scroll and started typing away, _“Free tonight? I’m going to have dinner with someone and was wondering if both of you could join. We’ll be at the bar tonight at twelve”_ Confident that she’ll receive a ‘Hell yeah’, Ruby sent the message with anticipation.

As she chewed on her breakfast that she salvaged with what little time she had earlier, the reply she was expecting arrived. Ruby smirked to the way that everything is going according to plan. The rest of the ride didn't take long even with the cars filling up quicker than usual. Ruby stood in front of the doors in preparation to dash out when it opens.

At this time, the bar is usually calm and peaceful, only soft murmurs and chuckles could be heard. As the sun vanishes from the sky, more people will be seen coming in— most of them just dismissed from work. Business is great regardless of what day it is, even if guests didn’t feel like having alcohol, they could still sit in for their grills. According to Ruby, the food tasted extremely good, which was probably another reason to their popularity (and also why she’s still here). Lucky for her, she knew some of the chefs, so whenever they see an order from her for lunch or dinner on her break, they’d size up the portion by a tiny bit.

Ruby was done putting on her uniform. Just when it’s about time to start moving she heard an energetic voice calling out to her from behind.

“Hello, Ruby! How’re you today?”

Ruby turned around to find one of her co-worker waving at her. “What’s up, Penny! I’m doing great! What about you?”

“Sensational! Are you working till midnight?”

“Yes, but I’ll be dismissed early today. You still have few hours to go, right?”

“Why yes, I’d say in about three hours or so.”

Before Ruby was able to say anything, a customer from one of the many tables waved at her to get her attention. “Well, I’ll have to go get this one. I’ll see you in a bit!” The redhead said before turning around.

“I guess I should start too….” Ruby murmured to herself.

* * *

Digital clicks from Weiss’ keyboard could be heard as she typed away in front of her computer in her office. Be it checking her mails, browsing through informations, reviewing requested and pending cases, the white-haired woman would spend almost a whole day staring at her computer.

“Oh, would you look at that.” Weiss murmured as she took a sip from her mug.

It was as she had expected; another request for a report. Not just any reports, but this one was another criminal report. And another report means a huge chunk of time and energy would be taken away from her. She knew very well that one of these would take about few hours to complete, around a minimum of ten pages. _Or _even better; she could half-ass it and shave off a few hours, but that wouldn’t be _Weissy _now, would it?

Inhaling deeply, she stretched her arms out which produced tiny popping noises. It was almost time for her lunch break, even though it’s clearly dinner time, that’s just the way things work here. Weiss pulled out a glass container from her drawer and set it down on her desk.

Opening the lid revealed the food that was packed inside, and this one looked no different from her other ones. Green, white, red, brown and yellow; salad. The same plain old salad that she’d had daily consisted nothing short of some lettuce, cucumber, avocado, cherry tomatoes, dried fruit and nuts, and a light well-aged balsamic vinaigrette dressing that’s just enough to make it not too dry to eat.

At this time, Weiss didn’t feel like typing while eating. So all she did was look around her office while she munched silently, the first thing that popped up in her mind was that she had to admit her office looked pretty decent. The late realization was reasonable since her overwhelming workload would keep her way too busy to notice or appreciate her own workspace. There is a large bookshelf to her left, a coffee table with a carpet under it, and topping it off with white leather recliners, a coach with the same theme and a lamp. For who? No one knows.

The wall behind her is basically, well…. glass. The giant glass window combined with being almost at the perfect level resulted in a pretty decent view of the city (that is if she had the time to even look).

Her enormous desk is where she’d spend almost all her time of day on since that’s where the computer sits. Matching theme aside, its size would most assuredly be the first to attract anyone's attention upon entering the office.

Already done with her meal, Weiss kept everything back to their origin and continued to work. She clicked into one of the mail that she had decided to put off earlier; the one requesting for her report. Her estimation tells her that she’ll be able to complete her task in a couple of hour, perhaps days if more details were put into it.

However, these reports…. the hearings for the over-the-top criminals, all of them; they didn’t seem right. It’s been a while, but Weiss hasn’t been summoned to more serious cases. Not that it’s bad, it’s nice— but a decline in her usual workload puts her off slightly as she’ll think if something’s up.

_“Should I be worried? Or is it a good thing that I’m not called up for more stuffs on my plate….” _Weiss contemplated, then she figured that she was overthinking over nothing.

Meanwhile, she smiled at the same time when she figured exactly how she’d spent her free time. Putting those thoughts aside for now, Weiss started with the pesky report on her computer, eager to complete most of it before the day ends.

* * *

“Why does it feel like work lasted longer for today?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that, Ruby. You’re getting an early dismissal today, shouldn’t it feel _shorter_?”

Ruby took a break after strenuous hours of work, while Penny probably have another half or one hour left before she’ll be done. Ruby quenched her thirst with a glass of water and checked for notifications while she was at it.

First was a reply followed by other mails and miscellaneous notifications. It was of course, from Yang.

_“Twelve? No problemo, but who’s the other someone?”_

Ruby could tell that her sister was curious to know who it is exactly that they’ll be dining with, but she decided to keep it a secret. A surprise, rather.

_“You’ll find out, I’ll see you in a bit then”_

Ruby slipped her scroll back into her pocket after sending the text to Yang. She tried her best to suppress her excitement and wipe the stupid looking smile off of her face as Weiss would be joining them tonight. Shoving the excitements aside, she noticed Penny was still beside her.

“Did something excite you?” Penny asked.

“O-oh, um—Yeah! My friends and I are gonna hang out here tonight, Yang and Blake’s coming too!” Said Ruby as she shifts her attention back to Penny. “Wanna join?"

“That’s awesome, Ruby!” Penny said. “Unfortunately, I will not be able to join you for tonight. I’ve got something to take care of.”

“That’s okay, let me know if you changed your mind then.” Ruby said. “What’re you working on anyway?”

“There's a project I’m working on with my group, it's almost done. Tonight should be the last night and we’ll be all good from there.”

“I see. Well, good luck then.”

“Thank you, Ruby.”

* * *

“Told you not to do your hair,” said the raven-haired woman.

“Come on, it’s not like I barely had enough time to do it,” the blonde replied.

“Yang, we _barely_ had enough time because you wanted to do your hair.” Blake narrowed her eyes.

“Okay, okay. Maybe we _barely _had enough time, but at least we weren’t late. Besides, it’s just a hang out, not a meeting. Being late for a few minutes won’t hurt.”

“You’d be making Ruby wait, and she’d get lonely being alone on the table all by herself. Look, there she is—”

“Hey, Rubes!” Yang called out to Ruby enthusiastically while Blake was still behind her pointing towards the table.

“Yang! Blake!”

Before Ruby could stand up, Yang rolled into the seat and gave her sister a bone-crushing bear hug.

“How’s my sweet little sister’s day?” Said Yang while she ruffled Ruby’s hair.

“Oh, _nothing_ much. Just like the usuals!”

Yang released Ruby from the hug. When the short-haired woman looked up at her hair, she frowned playfully over her messed up hair.

“That face you just made was priceless,” Yang laughed.

“That’s because you’d ruffle my hair every time when you get the chance to!”

It wasn’t surprising that Yang would do these kind of things. This was considered one of her habit that hasn’t changed ever since.

“I can’t resist ruffling my sister’s hair and giving her a hug when its been forever since we last saw each other! I mean, physically,” Yang said with a hand placed on Ruby’s shoulder.

Ruby smiled at Yang’s reply, then noticed that Blake was still there. “How was your day, Blake? You’ve been standing there forever!”

“It was great, thanks for asking. We’re getting some days off now and then, and we’re basically spending them to relax ourselves. How is it at the campus for you?” Blake said while taking a seat beside Yang.

“Not so much fun on my side, there’s work and assignments and everything. It’s a bit tiresome but I think I can manage,” said Ruby as she slumped on the table.

“Hey, we told you not to push yourself too hard if you feel pressured, right?” Yang frowned.

The short-haired woman shot up, “No no! I said I can manage! It’s normal to be tired, can’t really make any progress if you don’t put in enough effort, y’know?”

Ruby’s reply gained two pair of eyes squinting at her. “Right,” came the reply filled with doubt from Yang.

“What!? You’re saying that I’m wrong?!” Said Ruby while leaning forward across the table.

“I didn’t say that, but instead I feel proud hearing that from you,” Yang said with an eye closed and her arms crossed, which caused Ruby to pout.

* * *

The elevator doors slid open, Weiss walked out of it towards the hostess who was behind a stand.

“Good evening, miss!” The hostess greeted her energetically. “Is there anyone else with you?”

“No, a friend of mine already has a reservation.”

“May I have your friend’s name?”

“Ruby Rose.”

The hostess, whose name Weiss had just learned from her name-tag was typing away on her computer to look for the reservation.

“Gotcha,” said Edythe. “This way.”

The white-haired woman gave Edythe a nod and followed behind her. She walked by tables and chairs, hopeful that she’d spot Ruby before Edythe does. The place was as rowdy as usual, music produced from instruments drowned out any nearby conversations along with random glass clinks out of nowhere. Weiss scanned the area which was in another section of the bar, certain that Ruby would be around there since it was the same place they’ve first met.

And there she was, that ditzy face of Ruby’s was as clear as day right in front of her. However, things were different this time around as they have company for tonight. She was told by Ruby that her sister and her friend would be there, but Weiss couldn’t discern any difference between the other two. 

“Here’s your table.” The hostess gestured.

“Thank you,” Weiss said before turning to the other three.

“Weiss!” Said Ruby excitedly with her hands aloft, gaining a smile and a hand wave from Weiss in reply to her greetings.

“Hello Ruby, and….” Weiss paused when she turned to Yang and Blake, whose names are still unbeknownst to her with the blonde giving her an incredulous.

“Holy shit, it really is _the _Weiss Schnee.”

Weiss wasn’t surprised as the reactions were just as she had predicted.

“Name’s Yang. Nice to meet’cha.”

“I’m Blake. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Schnee.”

“Please, just Weiss is fine.” Said Weiss, trying to not sound too formal.

“Woah, dropping the formalities already? I like it.”

Weiss saw Ruby gesturing her to sit on the spot that she was patting on and accepted it graciously.

“I see Ruby already pre-introduced me to all of you.”

“Well, this was nothing short of a surprise for both of us as well. We didn’t really know who our ‘guest’ was until we showed up,” The blonde shrugged. “Ruby refused to tell us more than just your name.”

“You told them nothing about this?” Weiss turned to Ruby wearing a questioning look on her face.

“Nope! Everything was a surprise, I mean…. A pretty lame one,” Ruby laughed awkwardly.

Weiss sighed, shook her head and face-palmed right after. “Have you ever thought about what’d happen if your plans didn’t go the way you wanted?”

This was by far one of the— if not the worst— most poorly planned out surprise she had ever seen, and Yang giggled from across the table. Meanwhile, Blake is still expressing almost zero emotions to everything that is currently unfolding.

Taking her time to look around and analyze her surroundings, Weiss only realized just how much time had passed when the waiter came over to take their order. Everyone except for Weiss already have what they want in mind.

“You guys ready?” The waiter said with his scroll on hand.

“Ready when you are,” Yang said, looking at everyone. Blake closed her menu after Yang, indicating that she was ready as well.

“Go for it, Weiss.” Ruby said.

“I…. One moment, I’m still thinking about what to get.”

“Okay,” Ruby turned to the waiter, “Spaghetti and meatballs, please.”

“Grilled salmon.”

“I’ll have sirloin steak, medium rare.”

The waiter nodded, “Back to you, miss.”

“I’ll have Caesar salad, please put the dressings and toppings on the side.”

“Just vegetables?” Ruby asked.

“Yes.”

“Cool, and drinks?” The waiter queried.

“All beer?” Yang looked at the others, who seemed to all agree (even Weiss) with the suggestion except Ruby.

“I’ll have a strawberry milkshake, don’t feel like alcohol tonight,” Ruby sighed.

“Alright, got it. Anything else?” The waiter said before going to another table. He left when Yang shook her head, receiving a nod in return.

“So.” Yang said as she shifted herself. “How did both of you meet? I’m interested to know.”

Weiss tensed up, she turned to Ruby’s direction and was greeted by the same perplexed look.

“It’s….complicated,” Ruby said as she slowly turned to Yang.

“C’mon, can’t be that bad! You didn’t meet each other in the bathroom didn’t you?” Yang mocked. Blake on the other hand seem to be amused just by watching.

“Well no, it’s not complicated. But it's weird because the way we met was pretty unusual.”

The more Ruby hesitated to speak, the more Yang’s curiosity level raised beyond the measurements of the gauges. “Trust me, I’ve seen weirder stuffs. Just spit it out.”

“We met right over there.” Weiss interrupted, she sighed and pointed her index finger on the seat where she and Ruby first made eye contact.

“Not a bad start.” said Yang. “I see your social awkwardness is slowly dwindling away.”

“You really think so?” Ruby said while she was twiddling with her thumb.

“I know so.”

Ruby’s eyes begin to sparkle in content to Yang’s reassurance. While she can’t completely trust that time would make things for the better in the future— one could hope— Ruby decided to put it aside for now to not ruin what was supposed to be a happy night.

“Excuse me,” The waiter said as he set everyone’s dish down in front of them.

Ruby looked over to Weiss’, “You’re just eating that?”

“Of course.”

Weiss thought eating a bowl of vegetables were far better than all the monstrosity that was on the table. The foods didn’t look like they’d taste bad or anything, but she just didn’t feel like swallowing that much meat today for whatever reasons. Somehow today (everyday) happened to be one of those days where she’d be extremely picky or feel like throwing up when she consumes something out of her norms.

“I don’t feel like having meat in my system today.”

“Oh…. Would you like to have some of my pasta then? It’s untouched….” Ruby offered out of concern.

“Thank you Ruby, but I’ll pass.”

To her dismay, Weiss did not catch Ruby’s signal.

“But—”

“Don’t worry about me, Ruby.” Weiss interjected.

A vibration from her pocket drawn her attention away from Ruby. When she peeked at the screen to see who’s calling her, she sighed as her prediction aligned. Not a single cell inside of her wanted answer the call since her working hour had passed a while ago, but she made the choice to do so regardless.

“Sorry, but I have an important call to answer.” Weiss said, standing up.

“Pfft, a call from work? Imagine having to answer—“ Yang twitched when she felt a vibration coming from her own pocket.

“Speak for yourself,” Weiss spat as she turned away from three women.

“Heheh, this is pretty important too, so I might as well step outside for a bit,” Yang turned around after receiving a subtle smile from Blake.

* * *

The white-haired woman walked to the outdoor zone and leaned against the side of a wall. She answered the call while looking at some other skyscrapers in her view.

“Hello Charlotte, what pleasure do I owe you this late in the evening?” Weiss said, curious on the reason of the call at such unusual hour.

“Hey there, Ms. Schnee. I’m terribly sorry if I disturbed your evening, the higher-ups told me to remind you that there are some documents you’ve yet to submit and they’re needed urgently latest by tomorrow—.”

“What? Didn’t I already submitted everything a while ago? Can you please double check?” Weiss interjected.

“Yes, I did. Unfortunately they did not receive it, I suspect it may be a technical error.”

“Impossible….”

Weiss refused to believe what she had just heard, she was certain that all the documents were successfully submitted before she left her office. But apparently that isn’t the case, and Weiss was incredulous at Charlotte’s words. “If it's necessary, I can request for time extension….”

“Yes, please do. I’ll see what I can do from here, thank you for letting me know.” Weiss said, thankful that her assistant knew just what to do at the moment.

“No problem, enjoy the rest of your evening, Ms. Schnee.”

“How am I going to _enjoy_ my evening when I suddenly have to deal with something like this that came out of the blue?” Weiss sighed.

Charlotte scrambled her mind for something appropriate to say but nothing came out of it. “Uh, I mean, how do I put this….”

Weiss tittered, almost inaudible. “I was just kidding. Enjoy the rest of your evening as well, Charlotte.” Then she hung up.

When she lifted her finger from the screen, the smile on her face faded. Not completing her tasks— No, she did complete it, but something went wrong— to spending her time with a group of people most definitely without a doubt went against her own morals. She made up her mind to go back and tell the others that she’d have to leave immediately.

The white-haired woman fast-walked back into the bar, dodging waiters who stood in her way in a flash. She made a sharp turn around the corner— almost bumping into a woman with bright golden hair that looks as if they were glowing. “Woah, easy there Weiss.” Yang said after taking a step back. “Where’re you rushing to?”

“Yang? What’re you doing here?” Weiss queried.

The blonde shrugged, “Done with my call a while ago, then I bumped into you when I was just about to head right back, you?”

“Same here, let’s not make them wait,” Weiss said with a bitter smile before turning around, trying to avoid any conversations to prevent herself from being distracted and wasting anymore precious time.

Yang narrowed her eyes, “Hey Weiss, do you have siblings?”

Weiss froze. She turned around to meet the blonde, “I beg your pardon?”

“Do happen to know a woman who goes by the name of Winter Schnee?” Yang repeated her question, being extremely specific this time.

“Yes, she’s my sister.” Weiss said unequivocally.

The blonde snapped her finger and swinged her arm simultaneously, “I knew it!”

“K-know what?” Weiss cocked her head. She tried to recall if she had ever met Yang in the past before, but nothing showed up except for the memories from today.

“Well you see, when Ruby told me your name the gears in my head started spinning, and I had a feeling that you’re somehow related to Winter, and boom! My suspicion has been confirmed!” Yang said, pointing towards Weiss.

“I see, how did you both meet? It’s almost impossible to even communicate with her given that she’s always busy.”

“She just walked into my office one day and started demanding a list of things from me. It happened pretty much almost everyday ever since until one day I finally got to sit down and have a chat with her during break.” Yang explained enthusiastically.

“Yep, that sounds like her.” Weiss sighed.

“Things started to go smoothly afterwards. We talked a lot more nowadays compared to the past. Like, y’know, those deadpan looks.” Yang tried mimicking one of Winter’s deadpan for Weiss, which elicited a laugh from her.

“Hey!” Ruby shouted from several yards away.

Weiss and Yang turned towards the direction where the voice came from. “Both of you left us hanging and the food to go cold only to chatter here?!”

“Uh oh,” the blonde uttered. “An angry Rube’s the last thing anyone would ask for.”

“Uh….oh?” Weiss said before letting out a yelp from the sudden motion of Ruby pushing her back towards their table. The white-haired woman hates being touched without permission more than anything, but not a single cell in her body has come to an agreement to yell at Ruby. Thus, she reluctantly let herself be moved.

Ruby gestured for Weiss to get into the curved booth seat, pretending to be the waitress. Once she was in her seat and in front of her salad, Ruby got in and sat beside Weiss— sandwiching her between Yang and herself. The white-haired woman watched the younger one spear half a piece of meatball with her fork, and unexpectedly— bringing up to her mouth. “Try it.”

“What? No!” Weiss said truculently.

Ruby drew the fork closer towards Weiss’s mouth, “Just open up!”

Weiss scanned the food on the fork for a split second before opening her mouth just wide enough for the food to fit. At this moment, she is _mad_. Weiss quickly thought of something to blurt out as soon as she is done chewing— instead she melted when the flavor of parsley kicked in. Every thoughts were taken away from her mind. It’s been a while since she had any good food except for her usual daily lunchbox (more salad) that she concocted in her penthouse every morning.

“How is it?” Ruby asked.

“It was…. delicious.” Weiss said after swallowing, she certainly knew better than talking with her mouth still full. “Please, do _not_ do that again.”

“You needed that so badly I could see it in your eyes.”

“Well…. I suppose I didn’t….” Weiss muttered, “Thank you.”

Yang watched in awe, absorbing everything that Ruby did before cutting a small piece of steak from her plate and feeding it to Blake the same way Ruby did for Weiss.

“Yang!” Blake remonstrated.

“What? If Rubes can do it why can’t I?”

“I mean…. Ugh, fine.” The raven-haired woman struggled to find an appropriate counter response, thus giving in.

Weiss on the other side saw what happened between Blake and Yang, she blushed steadily red upon coming to a realization that Ruby did the same with her. Lifting her fork, she took a piece of sliced cucumber from her salad and started nibbling on it.

“So Yang, I’m assuming you’re with JPL?” Weiss asked.

Yang looked at her with an eye closed, her fork stuck in her mouth with a piece of steak in it. “Yup. I’m an aerospace engineer,” she said with her mouth full.

“Wait, so you’re—”

“Yep.” The blonde swallowed, “In fact, she’s in charge of me— well, a group of us.”

Upon hearing this, Weiss felt a sudden wave of strange relief washing over her. Not only have she become friends with Ruby, but the fact that she managed to become friends with Ruby’s _sister_ who knew her _own_ sister was nothing short of a miraculous coincidence.

“Yang’s job is super cool as well! Oh you should’ve seen all the cool things she does like designing and maintaining rockets and the thrusters and stuffs! Also, she look like a member of the KKK— ”

“Argh, shut up! We talked about this!” Yang said.

“Heheh, sorry. But you guys really do look like a super secret conspiracy group whenever you put on the all-white full-body protective outfits.”

“Thank God I don’t have to wear those everyday, they make me look bad.” Yang sighed.

“They’re clearly worn to keep you and the delicate instruments protected instead of the opposite. I’ve seen them, and they aren’t _half_-bad.” Weiss crossed her arms on her chest.

“Huh? Have you been to my sister’s lab before?” The short-haired woman said, confused.

Weiss looked at Yang, who grinned in response. “Tell her.”

“You dunce, weren’t you paying attention?” Weiss sighed. “My sister also works in the same place as Yang.”

Ruby’s jaw dropped out of excitement and surprise, at the same time also dropping her fork.“Wha?! That’s awesome! I never knew we had this kind of connection, Weiss!”

“We never knew up until now as well,” Yang said while she cut up a portion of her steak into smaller pieces. “It just happens, y’know?”

“I’m just so happy right now! Weiss, you just went from being a stranger to…. Ugh, I don’t evenknow what to say!”

Weiss hummed in content upon seeing Ruby’s smile. Her grin stretched all the way to the edge of her face, making it one of the most adorable expression she have ever seen (possibly her entire life). Though she still questions herself whether if she truly isn’t just a stranger to Ruby anymore. Before Weiss shifted her attention, she noticed that there was still someone else that hasn't spoken up yet for a while.

Blake— the raven-haired woman who sat right next to Yang seemed to only mind her own business the whole time when they were talking.

“Hey Blake, we haven’t forgotten you yet.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation earlier.” Blake smiled when Weiss told hershe wasn’t interrupting, “I basically work in the same place too, but I’m with Mission Control.”

“I see, which role?”

“DPS.”

“Interesting,” Weiss nodded. “So Yang’s division does the building and designing, and your division…. Ensures everything proceeds smoothly up there?”

“Technically, yes.” Blake returned a nod. “There’re also other roles assigned to others, mine is to monitor the onboard software on the ISS II and make sure there isn’t any hiccups or so.”

The white-haired woman knew that everything they did required precise calculations and meticulous plannings, but she chuckled regardless when Yang said it in a way that sounded like everything was easy.

“I doubt it’s an easy job.”

“Oh, trust me it isn’t. Although most of our calculations and every other little things are done byartificial intelligence, human errors are still a thing.” Yang sighed after the last line. “We’ll have to get back to work in a couple days, like tomorrow.”

“Do you live around the area?” Weiss asked.

Despite being sisters, Ruby did not live under the same roof as Yang and Blake. Instead, she rents a tiny apartment for herself— with financial support from Yang, of course. The younger woman had always wanted to attend her current university, which also meant living by herself since flying back and forth between New York and Pasadena wasn’t the smartest idea. When Ruby told Blake and Yang about her decisions, they were more than happy to help and give all the support they could possibly offer.

“We have an apartment downtown. A shame though, we return only every once a couple of months or so depending on the situation.” Yang grabbed Ruby around her arm and tousled her hair, “I miss Rubes too when we’re away.”

“Yang!” Ruby whined as she struggled in her sister’s grip. She pouted upon her release and tried to get her hair back into it’s original style.

The white-haired woman watched the incredibly _wholesome_ interaction between Ruby and her sister, and immediately felt a sudden pang of jealousy building up in her stomach. She felt happy for Ruby, she really did. But a part of her had wished that her own sister— Winter, would do the same thing with her; holding her tight in her arms, tousling her snowy locks….

“Manhattan’s a real shitty city to get around in with traffics, gotta tell you that. Boy do I miss this place.” Yang said sarcastically.

“What about you? I doubt you live far from here.”

“Don’t have to remind me. And yes, a couple of blocks away from here actually.” Weiss nodded, “Speaking about me— Ruby, what made you choose to live in Washington Heights?”

Ruby contemplated for a few seconds before opening her mouth to say something, only to have empty air come out of it.

“The crime rate’s high, it’s far from here _and_ the campus, and it’s dirty— I mean, I fail to understand why you would choose that kind of place over somewhere else such as your sister’s apartment.”

Ruby looked at Yang, who shook her head before looking downwards letting her answer the question herself.

“I um…. it’s…. well, during my second year I wanted to move out. The landlord had a really good deal going on at that time, so I went to check it out. When I told him I was a student he gave me yet another discount, at that point the deal was kinda hard to pass up, so I signed a two years contract.”

“Not the smartest choice, but you didn’t really have any either….” Weiss thought.

“Sorta, yeah….” Ruby said, rubbing the back of her neck. “The contracts ending soon, and I’ll be in search for a new place soon.”

“Sis, you have the keys to our door y’know?”

“I know.”

Weiss went ahead to help herself for more of her salad while she _pretended_ not to be paying attention. She chewed lightly watching the woman next to her intently as she felt the gears turning at full speed in her head.

“I’m curious, was it because of the school that made you want to stay here?”

“Yeah! I’ve always dreamt of attending Rosarium as a kid for countless reasons, but never have I thought I’d get accepted because y’know, it’s _the_ most prestigious school here in the nation. And at this point if I do get dropped out, I’m probably gonna go off worse than getting a depression.”

“You could’ve taken a look on her face when she received the acceptance letter. From there she begged me to let her go.” Yang smirked.

“Hey! You cried too!”

“Yeah yeah, but you were way funnier, running up the walls and shit.”

“I see.” Weiss said. “Well, I’m definitely happy for you. Getting in was considered one of the hardest thing to do in the world.”

“So Ruby, have you decided yet?” Yang queried.

“Mhmmmm, yeah I’m totally coming back.”

“Hell yeah! Rubes’ back in the house!” Yang cheered, she reached across Blake to give her sister a noogie (and tousled her hair once again). “Blake and I will be returning back to California again in about four hours from now.”

“Cali? What for?” Weiss asked.

“Work, duh. What else?”

“Must be hard….”

The blonde leaned back with her hands on the back of her head. “You’ll have the apartment all to yourself during that time.” She said before leaning in so close Weiss could barely pick up whatever she's saying, “I’m pretty sure Zwei missed you too.”

The white-haired woman frowned. _“Zwei?” _Perhaps a roommate or a friend of Ruby’s? Wouldn’t it make more sense for that particular individual to be here with them now? A sudden urge to speak up swept through her mind as she tried to figure who _Zwei _is.

“When do I start moving the stuffs then?” Ruby asked.

“Well,” Yang paused after finishing the last piece of steak on her plate. “During your week-long break coming up in a month. I’ll get someone with a van for your bigger stuffs, but other than that there shouldn’t be any difficulties.”

Ruby laid her head on the table with a crestfallen expression. When she pouted Weiss felt a strange feeling up her chest. But even so, she leaned low just close enough to the younger woman. “Hey Ruby?”

Ruby sat back up to give the other woman her full attention. “Yeah Weiss?”

“I wanted to tell you that…. I was just like you when I was a child. Had the same dream of being the very best and attending the same school. Even though there were some obstacles on the road, they didn’t stop me from achieving most of my dreams. So I think you’ve got this considering you’re already halfway through while most others would end up dropping out.” Weiss said sincerely, but on the inside her mind was on a warpath.

_That was god-awful!_

Hearing a Rosarium alumna— No, hearing _Weiss_ saying those words to her made Ruby feel like she could take on anything in the world. Her motivation gauge exploded and a sudden urge to hit the textbooks washed over her mind. She could sit down in the library for eight-hours straight and not get distracted aside from Weiss’s voice replaying in her mind like a recording on an endless cycle.

Ruby stared at Weiss long enough to make her blush, the older woman considered putting her hands on Ruby’s shoulder but hesitated when Blake spoke up after going quiet for a long time besides whispering to Yang occasionally.

“We’re always going to be here for you, no matter how far. You’ve got this, Ruby.”

As Blake was giving Ruby some more reassurance, one of the waiter came to their booth and left an electronic check holder covered in leather. Weiss unfolded it, revealing a piece of transparent glass which was the screen. It displayed everything; from the logo and name of the bar to everything they’ve ordered and the total sum.

Ever since young she had seen her father paying for everyone’s seatings regardless of having been invited to or when inviting someone to an event. As a Schnee herself, she caught up to it as well. Weiss held her scroll up a few inches away from the holder and the transaction went through after an authorization.

The white-haired woman did everything so swiftly not even Blake had noticed, nor Yang who was typing up a quick text on her scroll being too busy to be aware of her surroundings. Ruby on the other hand took notice of it. She stopped laughing and opened up the holder to check while Weiss was still sitting beside her.

“Weiss, what the— you paid?!”

“Think nothing of it.”

“But you didn’t have to….”

“No buts,” Weiss leaned in and whispered, “Tonight marks the best dinner I’ve had for years.”

That did the trick to shut Ruby up quick, instead of further protests Weiss was met with a quick blush followed up with a grin. “Thanks for the dinner Weiss!”

Blake and Yang thanked Weiss after Ruby.

“D-don’t mention it.” Weiss said turning away and sauntered towards the elevator lobby— with her face all red and steamy of course. After a moment of standing and spacing out Ruby trotted along with Weiss from a distance before Blake tapped her shoulder as if she wanted to talk to her.

Weiss reached for the metal call buttons and requested for an elevator. Then she stood there and waited patiently with her foot tapping against the ground in a languid manner to ease the pulsing tension in her chest.

“Hey Weissicle.” Yang said as she laid her hand on Weiss’ shoulder.

“Eep!” Weiss squeaked, shocked from the sudden contact that came out of the blue. “W-what’d you just call me?!”

“Woah, you’re not used to being touched huh….”

“If you’d have told me beforehand I wouldn’t be jumping on the sudden contact!” Weiss scoffed.

“Sheesh.”

As the temporary moment of silence took over the wheels, the two women could hear Ruby’s distant hearty laughs.

“She’s one helluva awkward one, isn’t she?” Yang said, “What do you think of my little sister?"

“I guess— W-what do you mean?!” Weiss stammered, albeit she tried her best not to.

“Like getting along and y’know…. Talk. I mean I’m quite surprised that you managed to get her out _and _have _dinner. _I’m legitimately _impressed._”

“Actually…. I wasn’t the one who planned this.”

Yang raised her left eyebrow. “That’s…. Unusual.”

“What do you mean?”

“Normally if she’s joining us for dinner she tends to not invite others.” Yang said, “Different case for you it seems.”

Weiss felt _good_ when she heard what Yang had spilled and looked over to Ruby. She smiled as she watched the dolt giggling to something Blake had probably said. When the younger woman locked eyes with her she quickly looked away to pretend as if she wasn’t staring at her the whole time. Weiss cursed her own reaction time for failing to react quicker.

Before she know it, Ruby was already right beside her as they entered the elevator with Blake and Yang tailing behind at last. “Weiss! What do you think of this place?”

“I really like the atmosphere here, seems like an excellent place to be in during a fine day’s evening like tonight. The foods were exceptional as well, at least some of them.”

“Oh…. Well, I’m glad you enjoyed your time here!” Ruby said and Weiss gave her a nod.

Weiss did, she really did. However, it’d be a way different story without Ruby’s presence.

The elevator stopped almost halfway away from the ground floor, as the doors opened both men and women started filling up the unoccupied space. This was obviously an office floor, but what Weiss didn’t understand was why on earth are these people still here considering it’s way past office hours. As more and more people tried to squeeze themselves in— taking this opportunity to get out of the building— Ruby and Weiss had to make space by taking steps behind. It wasn’t until the capacity limitation sensors sensed that there were way too many occupants than there should be and started bleeping shrilly. The doors shut themselves quicklywhen two men stepped out. Despite losing two men, the elevator was still _packed. _Weiss, who now has her back pressed up against the wall faced yet another problem.

Ruby was right _in front of her, _face to face with proximities of mere inches. Consequently, when one of the men shuffled slightly the motion transferred to a tiptoeing Ruby, who is now pressed up against Weiss in a _very_ awkward position. The white-haired woman tried to push herself further into the wall when she looked down and found her hand sandwiched— or rather stuck in between her upper leg and…. a particular restricted area on Ruby’s body. Weiss blushed furiously all the way to her ears with Ruby doing the same in a second. There was absolutely nothing she could do and there were still thirty floors to go. Though she had to admit, part of her was shamefully savoring this very moment of time. With Ruby so close to Weiss like this, she could very well already _smell_ her. The younger woman has a scent of roses lingering from her, while Ruby picked up a sweet hint of vanilla from the white-haired woman— most of it undeniably radiating from her alabaster bangs.

A bleep from the elevator soon signaled their arrival at the ground floor. Ruby and Weiss were the last occupants to step out of the elevator as they waited for everyone to do so first. Weiss stepped aside to do everything she possibly can to lower her heart rate that went through the roof without a doubt.

Yang turned back, “So are you— holy shit, what the hell happened to both of you?”

“N-nothing!” Ruby squeaked.

Yang narrowed her eyes when she looked at Weiss, then back to Ruby. “As I was saying, are you taking the subway to go back home?”

“No, I’m gonna teleport home.” Ruby mocked, grinning proudly.

“Well,” Yang said, rolling her eyes before looking at her watch, “Blake and I’ll have to gun for it, our ride’s stuck in traffic but is on it’s way.”

“I guess I’ll wait here until it arrives?”

“No. It’s dangerous to stay out here this late. I’ll get a ride for you to get home as well so forget about the subway.” Yang said, “Weiss, what about you?”

“Actually Yang, I’ll get Ruby home. I have a ride en route as well.” Weiss showed her scroll to the blonde.

Ruby couldn’t be any happier at this point— and even if she did she feel like she’s going to explode. Not only did she got to have dinner with _Weiss_, but now she’s going to be in the same car with her! The younger woman is literally vibrating in place right now from all the excitements.

“But—”

Before the blonde could say anything the driver sounded the horn and pulled over behind her. She could see the sheer excitement in Ruby’s eyes and how much she wanted to get a ride with Weiss for _whatever _reasons.

“Weiss…. can I trust you?”

Weiss didn’t reply, only crossing her arms and flashing a look at her— with Ruby still bouncing in place by her side.

“Yang, time isn’t going to wait.” Blake who already said her goodbyes previously urged Yang from the car.

“Coming.” The blonde replied, stepping forward to give Ruby a goodbye hug. “I’ll catch you later, Rubles.”

Yang turned around and speed walked towards the car, she held the door’s frame and looked back to Weiss.

“Please don’t try anything stupid.” Yang passively threatened before hopping into the car.

As the vehicle made a turn and disappeared from view, Weiss looked over to her ‘new friend’. She tried to bring something up to spark a conversation, but not the weak ones that only lasts several seconds. To her surprise before she could even think of anything their ride pulled over in front of them.

“Come on, our ride’s here.” Weiss said.

Ruby ran toward the door to open it for Weiss like a chauffeur getting off the vehicle to open the door for a lady. It was the driver’s job, but Ruby beat him to it. Upon opening the door, she bowed and gestured for the white-haired ‘lady’ to get in.

“Thank you.” Weiss said, trying to suppress a laugh at first. Once she was in she gestured for Ruby to get in as well.

“That was horrible, Ruby Rose.” Weiss laughed and shook her head.

“I try!” Ruby said with a bright toothy grin.

“Schnee and Rose?” The driver confirmed, receiving a sharp nod from Weiss.

“Some beautiful names.” The man whistled.

“Thank you!” Said the younger woman.

Weiss looked out the window as her heart raced. Now’s an unusual time to drive on the road and most people are probably in their beds by now. With little to no cars on the highway, the driver (autopilot software) did a 90 which ultimately shortened the commute time and also effectively reducing the time Ruby and Weiss still have together.

When Ruby turned to Weiss, she smiled at her before looking slightly to the side to conceal her smiling face. “So Blake and Yang’s landing in LA?”

“Hmm, airports?” The younger woman placed her index finger to her lips. “I don’t know”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“I didn’t ask, I mean I do in the past but I’ve grown tired of asking. Sometimes they land in LA and sometimes in San Francisco.”

“And you said they’ll be back in weeks or months?”

“Yup, they usually come back and hang around for quite some time during the holidays or random days.”

“I see….” Weiss said with a nod.

“Hey Weiss?”

“Yes?”

“Are you…. free tomorrow?” Ruby asked reluctantly, afraid of what might her reply be.

The older woman frowned when appointment dates and thoughts of incomplete documents started flying around in her mind. Now that work is brought up, she realized she even forgot she had to leave in the first place. Thank goodness she didn’t, or she’d have regretted that decision. Weiss figured she could re-submit those documents remotely once she gets home, or tomorrow morning if she sees it fit.

“I can make time.” Weiss bit her lips.

“Awesome! I was just thinking if you’d like to come check out my sister’s apartment with me since I’ll be staying with them soon.”

There’s really no reason for the need of Weiss’s company for the trip, but she figured this isn’t about necessity. Weiss _wanted_ to go with Ruby. She wanted to take any opportunity she can to spend more time with the younger woman. And she’ll not let work or anything else get in her way. 

“I’d love to.” Weiss said, “Lower Manhattan, correct?”

“Yup!” Ruby chirped, “I’ll send you the address and everything in a bit, or you could pick a time and place to rendezvous, like a coffee shop or something. I know a few good ones around the area.”

Weiss had expected this to be good, but not _this _good! She’s _finally_ getting somewhere. Checking out Ruby’s new home (Technically it _is_ Ruby’s home) together was a huge bonus, but being able to hang out in a coffee shop was _something else_. Now it was Weiss’s turn to vibrate in place, but she soon realized what was happening and quickly reverted back to her aloof personality.

“Coffee shop sounds nice, I’ll trust you to do the pickings”

“So tomorrow at four in the afternoon?”

“We have a plan then.” Weiss smiled.

“Yay!” The younger woman cheered with her hands aloft. “I can’t wait for tomorrow to come!”

Weiss wanted to say “_So do I, Ruby_”, but the words never came. The driver pulled over in front of Ruby’s apartment (Weiss specifically entered the address that her scroll picked up from her previous visit).

“Stop for Ms. Rose?” The driver asked.

The younger woman nodded to the driver and then Weiss before stepping out of the vehicle, “Thanks for the ride, Weiss. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Good night, Ruby.” She said before the door shut close.

As they drove away the younger woman eventually disappeared from view, leaving Weiss to rest her head back on the headrest to relax. This whole time trying to keep her composure finally caught up to her. With Ruby gone, all she could hear now was her heart pounding like a sledgehammer.

Worst of all, it has only gotten worst when the younger girl left. It was until now she could finally pant slightly to get more oxygen.

By the time she reached the building entrance she felt a bit more relaxed. Weiss gave the securities a nod upon passing them, then she zoomed past the doormen and attendants in the lobby as she hurried her way up to her penthouse.

Weiss was tired. Tonight took a toll from her both mentally and emotionally. Has she ever felt anything like this before? Well, yes and no— her job demands a lot of thinking, minus the emotion part because there is absolutely no room for emotion at all in a courtroom. The experience was entirely new for Weiss and it came right out of the blue.

She walked over to her fridge and poured herself a glass of milk, drinking it slowly but all at once. It was fine to do so since her last beer was about an hour ago. The glass of milk did an excellent job on making her feel sleepy.

Without taking a shower, she changed into her sleepwear consisting of a thin white long-sleeved button down nightshirt and a panties. That’s all— she’ll never sleep like this elsewhere except in her own room.

Now tired and her head overheating from the overload earlier, Weiss concluded that it is probably best for her to get some rest.

The urge for tomorrow’s afternoon to arrive quicker kept her from sleeping, but soon she managed to ease the urge and doze off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far what do you guys think of this chapter? Any decline in quality? It’s been so long since I’ve written anything that I’ve forgotten the joy and excitement of waking up to an inbox full of comments with all sorts of responses. I’m terribly sorry for abandoning this piece of work long enough to make people think that I happen to just gave up on it. My life had been going south ever since and its only until now that I’m able to make a maneuver to return back to north. So to compensate, I’ll be writing a one-shot (L) that’ll be up in around a month or two, though I’ll try to find and give myself more time to write. Something which I almost forgot to mention, I originally wanted to set a different currency for this AU but I figured I’d just use the current ones along with some inflations, therefore I’ve updated all the chapters so that it wouldn't lead to further misleading confusions. Aside from that, please don’t forget to leave comments— I’m not even joking, they’re seriously us writer’s fuel. The simple responses and everything else is what keeps us writers motivated and determined to write another new chapter and keeping the series alive. Last but not least, do you prefer a slow, long, and detailed story or a brief and short one? I personally prefer the first but I’d like to know your thoughts. 
> 
> Stay safe, fellow readers and writers.


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